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Tim Peake return: When is he coming back from space, what time and to where?

British astronaut returns to Earth after historic six-month journey

Peter Yeung
Friday 17 June 2016 11:49 EDT
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Mr Peake worked up to 14 hours a day, participating in more than 250 experiments
Mr Peake worked up to 14 hours a day, participating in more than 250 experiments (ESA via Getty Images)

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British astronaut Tim Peake is preparing to return to Earth after completing a historic six-month journey to the International Space Station.

During his historic mission, named Principia, he became the first UK astronaut to walk in space, the first Briton on the ISS, remotely steered a robot on Earth and ran the London Marathon.

He is the first UK person to visit space since Helen Sharman in 1991.

In 2013, Ms Sharman told The Independent that her advice to Major Peake was “to make sure you look out of the window occasionally”.

“It’s something no astronaut ever gets tired of doing," she said.

When is Tim Peake coming back?

Mr Peake will set off from the ISS in the early hours of Saturday 18 June.

He will travel in a Soyuz Descent Module, a capsule made by Russia, alongside two other crew members, commander Yuri Malenchenko and NASA’s Tim Kopra.

What time does Tim Peake land?

The expected arrival time is at 10.15 am BST on Saturday morning.

His capsule will undock at around 6.51 am, deorbit at around 9.22 am and its parachutes will open around 10am, at 10k m above Earth.

The European Space Agency say their cruising speed will be 28 800 km/h, until re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of about 120 km.

Where will Tim Peake land?

Mr Peake is set to land in a remote part of the Kazakhstan steppe.

How can I watch Tim Peake’s return?

Nasa Television will provide coverage of the group's preparations for departure and return to Earth.

They will air coverage of the departure and landing activities at nasa.gov/nasatv.

You can watch it live in the video above.

When did Tim Peake go into space?

He was launched to the ISS on 15 December 2015, for the 46th and 47th expeditions. Mr Peake chose Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, U2's Beautiful Day and Coldplay's A Sky Full of Stars as his three songs, which were permitted to each astronaut during the launch.

He launched successfully at 11:03 GMT from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on board Soyuz TMA-19M.

What did he do in space?

During his time in space Mr Peake worked up to 14 hours a day, participating in more than 250 experiments devised by scientists from around the world.

The UK Space Agency said: "Tim has a packed schedule on board the station - keeping fit, conducting maintenance, finding time to tweet the odd selfie - but ultimately the main reason he is there, and his number one priority, is to carry out new research in science and technology."

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