Astronaut Figurines

Denmark's 'Yuri Gagarin', Andreas Mogensen. Photo: AP

Not content with sending its first person into space on Wednesday, Denmark is also the first country to send Lego figurines into space.

Three astronauts blasted into orbit from Baikonur, Kazakhstan, on Wednesday on board a Russian Soyuz craft on its way to the International Space Station. On board is Andreas Mogensen, Denmark's first person in space.

As part of a recent "Ask Me Anything" session, Mogensen said: "[The European Space Agency] and Lego have partnered for this mission and among other things, we are running a competition for Danish school children to tell a story about my mission using Legos and making a video of their story."

Some of the Lego figurines now in space with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen. Photo: European Space Agency

The 20 Lego figurines have Iriss-adorned logos on them. The ESA mission has been dubbed Iriss after the Greek goddess Iris who linked humanity with the cosmos, according to website CollectSpace.

Dubbed "Denmark's Gagarin" by European Space Agency officials after the first man in space, Andreas Mogensen lifted off at 0437 Greenwich Mean Time (2.37pm, AEST) accompanied by mission commander Russian Sergei Volkov and Kazakh astronaut Aidyn Aimbetov on ESA's 10-day "sprint" mission.

From left: Kazakhstan's cosmonaut Aydyn Aimbetov, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov and Denmark's astronaut Andreas Mogensen on Tuesday. Photo: AP

The aim is to test equipment in areas of telerobotics and communications as well as monitoring the impact of space travel on Mogensen himself as his short voyage is unique in missions that normally last several months, according to ESA.

But he will also test out a new heart rate monitor and force-measuring pedals on exercise bikes built by the Danish Aerospace Company, according to the company's website.

Mogensen said on Reddit: "I am allowed to bring 1.5 kilograms of personal items with me on Soyuz. I will bring pictures of family and friends, mission patches stickers, Danish flags, Lego figures, some parachute material with signatures from skydivers around the world, a baseball cap from the University of Texas at Austin, a t-shirt and a few other small items".

Not an actual photo of the launch. Photo: European Space Agency

At a pre-flight news conference at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan from where the Russian Soyuz space craft will launch, the upbeat Mogensen said he had specially shaved his right leg to allow Volkov to better apply electrodes to the limb for the experiments in space. No bicycles were mentioned.

Aimbetov, the third ethnic Kazakh in space, said he was taking dried mare's milk and traditional Kazakh cheese to orbit. Fermented mare's milk, or "kymyz", is popular among nomadic cultures of Central Asia.

While in space, he will wear a special dosimeter to study the effects of space radiation on the brain.

The Soyuz TMA-18M lifts off on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Volkov is the first son of a cosmonaut who has flown to the 15-nation space outpost.

"It's our family tradition already to carry Kazakhs into space, " joked Volkov, whose father, Alexander Volkov, commanded a Soyuz spaceship that took the first-ever Kazakh cosmonaut, Tokhtar Aubakirov, into space in 1991.

Mogensen and Aimbetov are set to return to Earth on September 12, together with veteran Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, 57, who has been working aboard the ISS since March.