APROKO ALERT: Major Tim Peake returns to Earth after six months on the International Space Station

British astronaut Tim Peake touched down after six months in space yesterday – and immediately said he was looking forward to pizza and a cold beer.

"My next mission? Get pizza and a nice cold beer! After blasting back at 17,000 mph, enduring five times normal gravity and his capsule hitting 1,600°C, Major Tim has just one simple wish"

During his 186-day mission he orbited the world almost 3,000 times, took part in 250 experiments, performed a space walk and even ran a marathon on a treadmill.

But moments after he and his two fellow astronauts were pulled from their tiny, blackened space capsule, Major Peake, 44, seemed more concerned with the things most of us take for granted.

Smiling in the bright sunshine of Kazakhstan, he said he was ‘truly elated’ to be back and added: ‘The smells on Earth are just so strong.’

And his thoughts swiftly turned to food. Asked what he would like to eat, he replied: ‘I think I might be having some pizza later – and maybe a cold beer.’

Major Peake, US astronaut Timothy Kopra, and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko were squeezed inside their Soyuz TMA-19M space capsule during their three-hour descent from the International Space Station (ISS).

Their journey began at 6.52am UK time yesterday, when the capsule split from the ISS, which orbits 250 miles above the Earth.

At 9.49am two modules of the three-part Soyuz split off, right on cue, leaving the central landing pod to hurtle into the upper atmosphere at 17,398mph.

Friction rapidly slowed the capsule to 514mph – heating up its outside to 1,600C – and putting the astronauts under intense strain, the equivalent to five times the force of gravity.

For a few terrifying minutes it was engulfed in a super-hot ball of plasma as it plunged downwards.

Former Nasa astronaut Doug Wheelock has described the experience as ‘like going over Niagara Falls in a barrel, but the barrel is on fire’.

Seconds before 10am, Moscow’s Mission Control Centre made radio contact with Malenchenko, who confirmed that all was well.

The craft’s parachute opened as planned and it drifted down for an on-target touchdown at 10.15am on the steppe of Kazakhstan in central Asia.

Major Peake appeared unfazed as he was lifted out of the charred capsule and interviewed as he was carried off in a chair by support crew — astronauts risk fainting if they try to stand too soon after returning from space.

‘It was incredible,’ he said of the descent, before adding: ‘best ride I have been on ever.’

Major Peake, who has two sons with wife Rebecca, said it was ‘wonderful to be back’ and that he was ‘looking forward to seeing the family’. The Army-trained helicopter pilot said his half-year in space had been ‘overwhelming’ and ‘a life-changing experience’.

‘I’m going to miss the views, definitely,’ he said. On his mission Major Peake shared hundreds of photos via Twitter to his 800,000 followers.

After initial medical checks at the landing site, the astronauts were flown to the city of Karagandy for a Kazakh welcoming ceremony.

Major Peake was last night flown to the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, to meet his parents Nigel and Angela. They said they were ‘very proud’ of their son.

Mr Peake, 74, said that to watch the touchdown had been ‘magic’. Despite the nerve-racking descent, Angela said she had felt ‘totally calm’ throughout.

Experts say it should take superfit Major Peake about six weeks to recover from the effects of his six months in orbit.