After six months in orbit, British astronaut Tim Peake has returned to Earth.
The Soyuz capsule carrying the former helicopter test pilot and two other crew members was undocked from the International Space Station (ISS), and landed on the Kazakhstan steppe at around 10.15 BST on Saturday.
One Nasa astronaut, Doug Wheelock, has described the experience of a Soyuz descent as “like going over Niagara falls in a barrel, but the barrel is on fire”.
Major Peake became the second astronaut to go into space bearing the British flag, after Helen Sharman in 1991. During his time in space he has taken part in hundreds of experiments, performed a spacewalk and run the London Marathon on a treadmill
Upon arrival at the space station in December 2015, Major Peake’s first meal was a bacon sandwich and a cup of tea.
Speaking before his departure in his last live link-up from the ISS, Major Peake said: “It's been a fantastic six months up here - [a] really remarkable, incredible experience.
”I'm looking forward to coming home, looking forward to seeing my friends and my family, but I am going to miss this place.“
During his six month stay on the space station, he was also awarded an honour by the Queen for “extraordinary services beyond our planet”.
Major Peake was travelling back to earth with Nasa astronaut Tim Kopra and Yuri Malenchko, a Russian cosmonaut.
In preparation for undocking, the crew donned their Sokul space suits, took their positions in the module, and carried out final air leak and communication tests. Major Peake was strapped in the right seat.
After separation, two burns from the Soyuz rocket engine moved the craft to a safe place from which to begin the no-turning-back descent into the Earth's atmosphere.
The Soyuz spacecraft completed a “deorbit burn” by firing its rocket engine for four minutes and 37 seconds to start the journey back to Earth.
Next, at an altitude of 87 miles, explosive bolts fired, splitting the Soyuz into three parts.
Fifteen minutes before landing, four parachutes were to be deployed in succession. One second before touchdown, retro rockets were due to fire, with the spacecraft expected to have hit the ground at 3mph.
Recovery crews will rapidly arrive at the site to help the space travellers out of their capsule and take them for medical checks.
They will be helicoptered to Karaganda airport, where according to tradition they will be offered bread and salt and a traditional Kazak hat.
Major Peake will then be flown to the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, while his American and Russian colleagues go their separate ways to Houston and Star City, near Moscow.
Press Association contributed to this report
