Tim Peake returns to Earth

ESA astronaut Tim Peake, NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Russian Soyuz commander Yuri Malenchenko landed safely today in the Kazakh steppe after a three-hour ride in their Soyuz spacecraft. They left the International Space Station at 05:52 GMT at the end of their six-month stay on the research complex. Soyuz TMA-19M braked from the Station's cruising speed of almost 28 800 km/h and entered the atmosphere shortly afterwards. The crew module separated as planned and parachutes deployed to slow the vehicle even more. Retrorockets fired moments before landing and springs in the moulded seats reduced the impact of hitting the ground at 09:15 GMT. Teams were on hand within minutes to help them out. They leave behind three astronauts to look after the Station and run experiments.
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