Tim Peake could end his retirement after just 9 MONTHS to lead the UK's first team into space: British spaceman is tipped to be among crew of four - alongside the world's first parastronaut and two female astronauts

Just nine months after announcing his retirement, Major Tim Peake may be about to make a spectacular return to space.

According to reports, the legendary British astronaut will lead a four-person UK team to the International Space Station (ISS) sometime in the next few years. 

Major Peake – known as the 'first British spaceman' – is set to be joined by the world's first parastronaut, originally from Surrey, and two female astronauts. 

The quartet will spend up to two weeks on the orbiting lab to carry out scientific research and demonstrate new technologies before flying home. 

Peake, 51, famously spent six months on the ISS between 2015 and 2016, but his younger crewmates will be making their first trips into orbit. 

The UK Space Agency has partnered with US firm Axiom Space for the mission, although they will officially be represented by the European Space Agency (ESA). 

The agency confirmed to MailOnline that the mission is in the planning stages, but added that no date has been chosen and the crew has not been selected yet. 

It's likely the mission will require a seasoned astronaut to act as commander - with Major Peake the most obvious contender.

Peake, who has focused on ambassadorial work of late, acknowledged the mission on X (Twitter) as 'exciting', but did not address the reports that he would be on board. 

Meanwhile, the most likely contenders for the three other spots are the Brits recently selected for the ESA's astronaut programme in 2023.

They are John McFall, 42, a surgical trainee and Paralympic medallist; Meganne Christian, 35, a materials scientist originally from Kent; and Rosemary Coogan, 32, an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland. 

McFall, who was filmed undergoing weightlessness training earlier in the year, had his right leg amputated following a motorcycle accident in Thailand in 2000.  

He was fitted with a prosthesis and is now working with the ESA to investigate how such a disability could affect a stint in space.      

Rosemary Coogan, 32, is from Belfast but went to school in Brighton and has two masters degrees in physics from the University of Durham. 

From a young age, she spent several weeks a year away from home onboard military training vessels and land bases as a Cadet Petty Officer with the Sea Cadets from 2002 to 2009. 

Meanwhile, Meganne Christian, 35, was born in Kent but moved to Australia at a young age and studied at the University of New South Wales. 

The materials scientist has worked at the National Research Council of Italy in Bologna and as a researcher at Concordia Station in Antarctica, one of the most remote places on Earth. 

There's no concrete date for the mission, and considering such projects usually take between 18-24 months to come to fruition from the planning stages, it may not happen until 2025.

By this time, Major Peake will be 53 and would have to be in good physical shape to stop his place being taken. 

Major Peake has already hinted at a return; when asked by James O’Brien during a recent podcast if he'd ever go back to space he replied 'never say never'. 

Peake said: 'If you'd asked me that a year ago, I'd have said there perhaps weren't a huge amount of opportunities.

'Actually, right now, I think there's more opportunity than I've even realized. There's a lot happening in the commercial space sector.

'It's really a "never say never" – there are plenty of opportunities.'

Tim Peake, originally from Chichester in Sussex, was selected as an ESA astronaut back in 2009 and spent six months on the ISS from December 2015. 

When he blasted off to the ISS, he became the first officially British spaceman, although he was not the first Briton in space. 

It was back in 1991 when Sheffield-born chemist Helen Sharman not only became the first British spacewoman, but the first British person in space. 

Before both Sharman and Peake had been into space, other UK-born men had done so through NASA's space programme, thanks to acquiring US citizenship.

But Sharman and Peake are considered the first 'official' British people in space as they were both representing their country of birth. 

Major Peake also became the first astronaut funded by the British government. 

During his time on the ISS, he ran the London marathon and became the first person to complete a spacewalk while sporting a Union flag on his shoulder.