Tim Peake has become the first person to manoeuvre a rover robot through a darkened, simulated Martian landscape while orbiting the Earth from space.

The British astronaut remotely controlled the explorer from aboard the International Space Station.

He piloted the rover through the Mars-like rocky hangar at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage.

But Major Peake did not have it all his own way. The vehicle briefly became stuck on a large fake rock and lost signal for around ten minutes during the pioneering experiment.

Under his guidance, the British-built Rover travelled around 20 metres (65ft) during the two-hour test, and entered a mocked-up darkened cave.