UK astronaut Tim Peake makes emotional call on return to Earth and admits he can’t wait for PIZZA and BEER
Soyuz descent module undocked from the International Space Station at exactly 6.52am before successfully landing in Kazakhstan
BRIT space man Tim Peake made an emotional phone call to his family after landing safely back on Earth today - and admitted he can't wait for "pizza and cold beer".
The UK's first official astronaut left the International Space Station after six months early this morning in a Soyuz TMA-19M space capsule.
After it parachuted down in a desert in Kazakhstan he said it was the "best ride I've ever been on".
Technicians surrounded the capsule before the space travellers were pulled out one-by-one from the Soyuz.
Major Peake, 44, and his crew mates, Tim Kopra and Yuir Malenchenko, were placed in comfy chairs because they are not yet allowed to walk after six months in zero gravity.
Asked how he felt after landing, Maj Peake said: "Great, thanks. It was incredible - the best ride I've been on ever.
"I'm just truly elated. The smells of Earth are just so strong, it's just wonderful to feel the fresh air.
"I'm look forward to seeing the family now."
He added that spending 186 days on the International Space Station was a "life changing experience".
Now he is contemplating treating himself to a "pizza and cold beer".
He added: "It is going to be quite tricky for me to adapt. It's probably going to take me two or three days before I feel well."
Major Peake's wife Rebecca, 41, and sons Thomas, six, and Oliver, four, watched the reentry anxiously from mission control before calling him at 10.36am.
His parents were watching a live feed from the ESA headquarters in Cologne.
Mr Peake said "It was a perfect touchdown", before adding: "It was job well done, I'm so proud of him".
Donning a Sokul space suit, the Brit sat aboard the red-hot capsule that brought him and his two crew mates back to Earth at 10.15am, UK time.
At exactly 6.52am the spacecraft carrying the spacemen undocked from the International Space Station.
Four parachutes deployed in succession at 10.00am to slow the capsule's descent.
One second before touchdown, retro rockets fired, forcing the spacecraft hit the ground at 3mph.
The craft landed on its side in the Kazakhstan scrubland this morning, where helicopters on standby rushed to collect the passengers.
Earlier in space, sprung hooks attaching the craft to the ISS were released to free the craft which took the three men into orbit on December 15.
An outside camera showed the spacecraft backing away from the space station with the Earth turning slowly below.
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.
Major Tim then braved extreme temperatures and perilous high speed as he landed on his home planet.
He experienced the hair raising plunge through the Earth's atmosphere while locked in the middle section of the Soyuz decent module.
Friction on the spacecraft's heat shield slowed its speed form 17,398mph (28,000 kph) to 514 mph (827 kph) but raised the outside temperature to 1,600C.
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A critical moment of his landing came at 9.22am UK time, when the rocket motor fired for four minutes and 37 seconds to put the Soyuz on a trajectory to take it out of orbit.
Some four hours earlier Major Peake, American Colonel Tim Kopra, and Russian cosmonaut Yur Malenchenko scrambled from the space station into the Soyuz capsule.
Closing the hatch marked the official end of Major Peake's historic mission, which earned him an honour from the Queen for "extraordinary service beyond our planet".
Recovery crews have rapidly arrived at the site to help the space travellers out of their capsule and take them for medical checks.
Major Tim takes a selfie during one of his space walks outside the International Space Station
As tradition dictates, the crew is being helicoptered to Karaganda airport where they will be offered bread and salt in a 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.
The Brit's space mission was nicknamed Principia after Sir Issac Newton's landmark work describing the laws of motion and gravity.
Speaking in his last live link-up from space, 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 [the ISS]."
During his 186-day mission in space Maj Peake made the first spacewalk by a UK astronaut, remotely steered a robot on Earth and ran the London Marathon.
He completed about 3,000 orbits of Earth, covering a distance of about 125 million km.
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