RAF pilot to help launch space satellite

Fifty years after the lunar landing the Royal Air Force is taking its first small steps into space. Flight Lieutenant Mathew Stannard will be the first RAF pilot to help launch a satellite as part of the Ministry of Defence's £30m space programme. He will be swapping the cockpit of his RAF Typhoon jet for a heavier and slower Boeing 747. The specially adapted passenger plane has been designed to carry a rocket which can launch satellites into space. More

(Source: BBC News - Oct 3)