Okwudiri Straightman Nwali

One small selfie for man, one giant tweet for mankind: Major Tim Peake takes cheeky snap just before his space walk is cut short after his American colleague's helmet starts filling up with WATER

• Tim Peake and Tim Kopra embarked on their spacewalk 1pm GMT, which was streamed live by Esa and Nasa
• The pair successfully replaced a power unit on the furthest point of the ISS, 200 feet (61 metres) from the airlock
• But the ,ission was aborted two thirds of the way through when Tim Kopra's helmet began to fill with water 
• Major Peake has made history as the first Briton to conduct a spacewalk and said he felt 'exhilarated'
• His wife Rebecca thanked him via Twitter for taking a photograph of his sons into 'the vacuum of space'  

British astronaut Tim Peake said he will never forget his 'exhilarating' first walk in space as he posted a space selfie of his historic feat.

The British astronaut tweeted for the first time since he became the first Briton to complete an Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) or spacewalk. He wrote: 'Today's exhilarating spacewalk will be etched in my memory forever - quite an incredible feeling!'

Major Peake had his historic spacewalk cut short this afternoon after his American colleague Tim Kopra reported water building up in his helmet.

The astronauts are now safely back at the International Space Station (ISS) after Flight Engineer Kopra said the 'bubble of water' was growing rapidly, up to four inches long.

Nasa's Mission Control stressed it was not an emergency but still ordered the astronauts back to the air lock two thirds of the way through the scheduled spacewalk. 

Around four hours earlier, Tim Peake made history after becoming the first British astronaut to perform a spacewalk. The pair successfully replaced a faulty power unit outside the International Space Station. 

The 43-year-old and Nasa astronaut Flight Engineer Kopra had just 31 minutes to install a new sequential shunt unit on the outside of the space station in a brief window of darkness as the ISS moved into the Earth's shadow.  

British astronaut Tim Peake said he will never forget his 'exhilarating' first walk in space as he posted this space selfie of his historic feat. He tweeted for the first time since he became the first Briton to complete an Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) or spacewalk

The astronauts are now safely back at the International Space Station (ISS) after Flight Engineer Kopra said the 'bubble of water' was growing rapidly in his helmet, up to four inches long, which could have proven dangerous

Nasa's Mission Control stressed it was not an emergency, but still ordered the astronauts back to the air lock two thirds of the way through the scheduled spacewalk. Flight Engineer Tim Kopra is pictured

After that, US astronaut Scott Kelly used a syringe to collect a water sample and recover any evidence of water in the helmet. He managed to recover 15 millilitres. Here, he checks to see whether Flight Engineer Kopra's suit is dry. Tim Peake can be seen with his helmet off