Astronaut Tim all set to come back down to Earth

ASTRONAUT Tim Peake will return to Earth tomorrow after six months in space.

The return trip will be the most dangerous part of his mission.

He and two other astronauts will travel at speeds of up to 17,000mph, with the outer wall of their capsule heating to around 3,000f (1,649c).

Major Peake, pictured below, will wear a pressurised suit to stop the blood rushing from his legs and will have been given a solution to stop him becoming dangerously dehydrated.

The capsule will land in Kazakhstan.

Retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has said of reentry: ‘You see the fire that envelops the vehicle, like you’re flying a meteorite home.

‘It’s a bit like being crushed and burned and torched at many thousands of degrees. It’s like you’re flying through a blast furnace’

Mr Hadfield said that the actual landing was ‘like a car crash’ and ‘you hit the ground like a ton of bricks’.

Major Peake has also been warned to stop talking before touchdown – as there is a risk he might bite his tongue off.

After he has landed, the astronaut from Chichester in West Sussex will be taken to the European Space Agency HQ in Germany to be reunited with his wife Rebecca and two sons.

But although he is leaving space, his body will experience the aftereffects for some time. Experts say his time in zero gravity will have weakened his bones and muscles and may leave him with permanently blurred vision.

The 44-year-old is likely to have lost 1.5 per cent of his bone mass per month – and full recovery can take up to three years.