The British Royal Mail has issued a limited edition postmark that reads "Welcome Home Tim Peake," in honor of British astronaut Timothy Peak, who was on the European Space Agency's  (ESA) Principia Space Mission to the International Space Station (ISS) that took off in December last year from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and landed back on Earth on June 18, 2016.

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The special stamp will be used on all stamped mail for a week, to commemorate the historic event.

Witnessed by scores of people the world over, who had been eagerly following every update about the mission, Peak finally returned to Earth with teammates Timothy Kopra from the USA and Commander Yuri Malenchenko of Russia. Malenchenko, who spent 827 days in orbit, is surpassed only by Gennadi Padalka, who spent 878 days in space.

The Soyuz TMA -19M aircraft capsule, which undocked from the International Space Station at 6:53 BST on Saturday, landed roughly three hours later at the Expedition 47 landing site in Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 9 :15 GMT, July 18.  

As Kopra handed over charge of the ISS on Friday to NASA colleague Jeff Williams by ringing a bell - in typical naval style - it also marked the end of Major Peake's Principia Mission.

Meanwhile Peake's parents, Nigel and Angela Peake, eagerly followed every development aboard the Soyuz spacecraft and proudly awaited the return of their son, who is the eighth British astronaut to travel in space and the first publicly funded Briton to do so.

In an interview with CNN, Peake revealed that he had been inspired to travel in space ever since he was a small boy. "As a young boy I looked up at the stars and wondered about our place in the universe," he said. 

Later in life he took up aviation and qualified as a test pilot, putting him in position to take up work with the ESA.

According to him, among the most valuable lessons he learned in space is to work methodically.

The crew conducted more than 200 experiments during expeditions 46 and 47, including airway monitoring using the airlock as a hyperbaric chamber, and several micro gravity experiments that are believed to contribute enormously to medical research.

The astronauts' experiments with metal alloys and composite materials could help produce lighter and stronger materials that hold tremendous benefits for the aviation industry. 

Although a press conference was scheduled for the three astronauts, Peake chose not to attend and instead left for a family reunion in Germany.

Despite doctors having confirmed that the astronauts are in good shape, they will need months of recovery to fully adapt to their habitat, with most habits like eating, drinking, taking a shower, and even brushing teeth having been altered for space environments.

Tagsastronauts, NASA, ESA, British Astronaut Tim Peake, Kazakhstan, ISS, UK, soyuz rocket