Tim Peake retires as European astronaut

Tim Peake has announced he will step down from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) astronaut corps, meaning he will no longer be considered for a mission to the Moon.

Major Peake, Britain’s first official astronaut, travelled to the International Space Station (ISS) in December 2015 and the ESA said it would be sending him into space for a second time.

There were even hopes that the 50-year-old would be included in the Nasa and Esa’s Artemis project which is seeking to return humans to the Moon.

But yesterday Major Peake said he was retiring from the astronaut corps to become a “space ambassador”.