SPACE’S poster boy Major Tim Peake has praised the work of scientists in the UK in his first interview with the UK press since touching down.

The British astronaut captured the hearts and minds of the public during his six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS) through social media and his live broadcasts.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne Germany, just days after landing back to Earth, the astronaut praised the UK space industry.

Funny and engaging, the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut walked into a room of rapturous applause as he spoke at his first press conference since returning to Earth.

The father-of-two said: "We have a huge space centre in the UK, it is very dynamic and it is going to be an incredibly successful space centre but to be even more so we need to be inspiring the young minds to show them that you can be an astronaut, you can join ESA and you can go to the moon."

An integral part of Major Peake’s Principia mission, alongside his 250 experiments, was to inspire and engage thousands of schoolchildren through competitions and live classroom broadcasts.

Major Peake said: "I’m so thrilled so many children joined in this mission, I have loved every single bit of it.

"And really I’m delighted they got involved and I hope it encourages them to explore space further.

"But I think the message really to take away is, is that you are looking at a boy who left school at the age of 19 with three below average A-Levels and I’ve just got back from a six-month mission to space, so my message to them is: 'don’t let anybody tell you, you can’t'."

The UK Space Agency’s head of space exploration Sue Horne, who is based in Swindon, said she had breathed a huge sigh of relief when Major Tim had touched down safely back on earth.

She said: “One of the main objectives was to inspire children to get into STEM subjects, even if they don’t want to go into space that will still benefit the country.

“His mission has allowed us to highlight that we have got a very strong space industry that contributes £11billion to the UK economy.”

As well as highlighting that there is a thriving space industry for youngsters to aspire working for, Tim has also been carrying out a number of experiments while onboard the ISS, and scientists are eagerly beginning to analyse the data sent back. Among some of those experiments will be those to understand more about the ageing process.

Sue added that as her remit also covers robotics it was a personal highlight for her when Tim took control of a robot in Stevenage during an experiment earlier in the year.

“The real highlight is the outreach and how people have felt engaged – it has been most successful,” she said.