British astronaut Tim Peake is to touch down in Scotland next month as part of his post-flight tour of the UK.

The 44-year-old will visit Edinburgh and Glasgow to give a first-hand account about life in space.

Peake, who this year returned from a six month long mission to the International Space Station (ISS), will present an event entitled Experiments in Space with his NASA crewmate Tim Kopra.

Their first stop in Scotland will be the Glasgow Science Centre on October 16, followed by an appearance at the Edinburgh International Science Festival on October 17 at the Usher Hall.

Peake famously beat over 9000 other applicants for one of the six places on the European Space Agency's new astronaut training programme.

During the Principia mission, in which he ran over 100 scientific experiments, he famously became the first British astronaut to complete a space walk outside the ISS.

His launch into space from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on December 15, 2015 was watched by over 15,000 people in the UK. He landed back on earth in June 2016.

During launch, as per tradition, each cosmonaut was allowed three songs to be played to them.

Peake chose Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, U2's Beautiful Day and Coldplay's A Sky Full of Stars.

Tim Peake said: "I've been extremely touched by the support of the British public before, during and after my mission to the ISS and I hope that my post-flight tour will allow me to thank as many of those people as possible.

"I received the footage of the launch parties that were held across the UK after I arrived in space so now I will be able to attend in person to join in with the celebrations."

Simon Gage, the Director of the Edinburgh International Science Festival said: "I am thrilled to be welcoming Tim Peake and his NASA colleague Tim Kopra to Edinburgh and excited that the Edinburgh International Science Festival will be presenting their event in partnership with the European Space Agency and UK Space Agency at The Usher Hall.

"Our aim across all the work we do is to inspire people of all ages and backgrounds with the wonders of science and technology.

"We are delighted to support the UK Space Agency's education and outreach programme that has made the Principia mission so captivating and so accessible to the British public."