Oliver ready for take off on space adventure
An engineer from Shropshire is set to go into space after beating thousands of other hopefuls from around the globe.
Oliver Knight, a chemical engineer for energy company E.On, is one of only 23 lucky winners who will get to take a 90-minute round trip into space, with the chance to view the earth from a height of 103km.
The 25-year-old, originally from Bridgnorth, was named as one of the winners after undergoing a gruelling training session at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, which involved experiencing high G-force in a centrifuge, or rotating cabin, doing barrel-rolls and loops in a fighter, and riding the so-called "Vomit Comet", a plane which offers potential astronauts the chance to experience the weightlessness of space in zero Gs. He was one of just four finalists from the UK who got through to the final round in the USA and one of a total of 107 people from 61 different countries.
He said: "Going to spend the week in Florida was an amazing prize already.
"Me and the three other English guys said it was one of the best weeks of our lives.
"To get the flight on top is absolutely incredible.
"Everyone there was so nice and all 61 countries got on perfectly. It was very inspiring."
Oliver was originally one of 87,000 fellow hopefuls who entered the competition to join the Lynx Space Academy.
After seeing an advert in the newspaper he decided to take part, having to get as many votes as possible from friends and family to get through to the next stage. "I'd always wanted to be an astronaut at school, but I went to sixth form, went to university and then I got a job so I wasn't going to end up doing it."
That is set to change for Oliver. After getting a whopping 1,200 votes to bring him into the top 250, in July this year he took part in a series of challenges designed to whittle the number down to a final four.
Oliver, who now lives in Malvern, is the only competitor from the UK who will be able to take part in the flight, which is scheduled to take place in late 2015.
He said: "I'm looking forward to not going to the gym anymore, me and the three other guys from the UK have been training all year for it."
