Locally-born pilot to see friend blast off
A GUERNSEY-BORN pilot will be in Kazakhstan next week to see a close friend blast into orbit for a six-month stay on the International Space Station.
Captain Andrew Ozanne and Major Tim Peake met at the Empire Test Pilots School at RAF Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, before flying together in Afghanistan in support of Special Forces missions.
Both left the Army in 2008 after 16 years of service. Captain Ozanne, 45, currently works for the airline Jet2, flying from East Midlands airport taking passengers to the Mediterranean and other short haul tourist destinations. Major Peake, 43, beat 8,000 other applicants to one of six places on the European Space Agency's new astronaut training programme. He moved to Cologne, Germany, with his family for ESA training.
Major Peake and his colleagues are due to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, from where all manned Russian space flights are launched, on Tuesday.
