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It was one small step for a sheep, one giant leap for lamb-kind... That's what Shaun the Sheep might've said, if he could talk.

A model of the animated character has returned to Britain after a Nasa space mission to the Moon last year.

Shaun the Sheep was a passenger onboard the Orion space capsule that was blasted into orbit around the Moon by the world's most powerful rocket.

The model of Shaun travelled for almost 1.5 million miles in the empty craft - it didn't have a crew as it was a test flight in preparation for more Moon missions. However, there was a model of another animated character, Snoopy.

Dr David Parker from the European Space Agency (Esa), said he was "delighted to welcome Shaun the Sheep, alive and wool after a well-deserved rest on the farm", following his Moon adventures.

Speaking at Aardman studios in Bristol, the home of Wallace and Gromit and where all of Shaun the Sheep's TV programmes and films are produced, Dr Parker said Shaun was "the first sheep to fly to the Moon and back".

He then revealed Shaun's official Esa astronaut photo, and presented Aardman with a certificate from Nasa.

The next Moon mission is scheduled to occur at the end of next year when four human astronauts will fly around the Moon.

Aardman hopes its little sheep will once again be onboard the space capsule.

"It's every child's dream, isn't it, to be an astronaut? And so the fact that he was doing it for us seemed very, very important. Extraordinary. Our baby, our creation," said Aardman co-founder Peter Lord.

Dr Rosemary Coogan, a Northern Irish trainee astronaut with the European Space Agency, said: "I think Shaun going to space has been an incredible way to engage the public.

"It's an absolute thrill to think about following in Shaun's footsteps, going around the Moon and getting involved with all of Nasa's missions. It would be an absolute pleasure to do that, and we'll see what the future holds."