International Space Station astronauts land in Kazakhstan

If there are problems with the spacecraft after it has left the ISS, but before it has commenced its de-orbit burn, mission control can opt for a two or even three orbit return to Earth.

The Eurpoean Space Agency confirmed the Sussex resident and others were in good shape on arrival, via their Twitter feed.

Still dressed in his spacesuit, he said: “It was incredible”.

Kopra appeared a bit uncomfortable when he was pulled from the capsule, but within a few minutes, he was smiling and chatting on the phone.

“I’d like some cool rain right now; it’s very hot in the suit”.

“That created a small fire on the ground below and they had to shut the ventilation system inside the capsule off and that made it very, very hot inside”. He added he wanted his first meal back on earth to be pizza and a cold beer. After further checks and scientific experiments in a medical tent the crew will be taken individually in helicopters to Karaganda, two hours away. Mr Malenchenko’s destination is Star City, near Moscow. A three-person crew from the International Space Station has landed safely in the sun-drenched steppes of Kazakhstan.

Maj Peake was the first British astronaut to be sent to the ISS by Esa. Kopra will continue on to his home near the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

For Malenchenko, it was a sixth mission, and he logged up a total of 828 days in space, the second-longest accumulated time in space after Russian Gennady Padalka.

The astronauts landed in south-central Kazakhstan at 0915GMT after spending 186 days on the International Space Station (ISS). NASA astronaut Jeff Williams is now the commander of the orbiting outpost, with Russia’s Oleg Skripochka and Alexey Ovchinin filling out the three-man crew.

On July 7 another trio of space travellers – American Kate Rubins, Russian Anatoly Ivanishin and Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi – will fly to the space station from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Alongside were commander Yuri Malenchenko, who quickly put on sunglasses to shield his eyes from the midday sun, and NASA astronaut Tim Kopra.

“We’re so proud of him and what he’s achived and so grateful he was given the opportunity”.

According to a story published on the topic by DailyMail, “British astronaut Tim Peake has ended the historic mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that earned him an honour from the Queen for “extraordinary service beyond our planet”.

The return to Earth is seen as the most risky part of the entire six month mission, with a critical five minute window when the capsule re-enters the Earth’s atmosphere.