Britain’s first astronaut aboard the International Space Station is headed home after a six-month mission.
Tim Peake lands Saturday morning in a Soyuz capsule in Kazakhstan. He’ll be accompanied by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko and U.S. astronaut Timothy Kopra, who’ve spent 186 days in space with him.
“What an incredible journey it has been– thank you for following & see you back on Earth!” Peake tweeted before he entered the Soyuz spacecraft and closed the hatch.
Peake, 44, made the most of his time in space.
He ran the London Marathon strapped to a treadmill, held a science lesson for 300,000 schoolkids and ventured out of the space station on his first spacewalk.
“The first time I saw the Earth was just a few moments after insertion into orbit,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour last month in an interview from the International Space Station.
“It was just the most incredible feeling to be in orbit and see the planet for the first time. It was spectacular.”
The former Army aviator and helicopter test pilot has had a love for space since he was a child.
“As a small boy, I looked up to the stars and often wondered about our place in the universe and the solar system and was fascinated by space,” he said.
While aboard the space station, the three conducted scientific research in biology, biotechnology and science.
“We’re really in a very privileged position up here, we have an enormous responsibility with regard to the science that we’re trying to do, and so we just have to try and be as professional as possible.”
They are scheduled to land in Kazakhstan at 5:15 a.m. ET.