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A young engineer is heading into SPACE with after beating 87,000 other Brits to the out-of-this-world prize.

Oliver Knight, 25, will step into a space shuttle to embark on an out of this world space odyssey breaking the sound barrier while flying 103 kilometres at the maximum airspeed.

Oliver, from Malvern, Worcestershire, won the final stage of the Lynx Space Academy competition in Florida, trouncing four British finalists in a series of gruelling physical and mental challenges.

Training missions at the Kennedy Space Center saw Oliver experience a zero-gravity flight, test out aerobatic manoeuvres onboard a light-attack fighter aircraft and prepare for the exhilarating force of blast-off in a G-Force simulator.

The keen skydiver will take his trip into space next year with 23 other global winners.

The shuttle’s engine will cut off at 103km and the budding astronaut will see Earth as only five hundred have before.

At this point the lucky cadet will experience weightlessness in zero gravity before beginning the descent back to Earth.

Oliver said: “Today is a dream come true. I’m counting down the days until take-off.

"To be given the chance to actually enter space is incredible and to win out of all these people is just unbelievable.”

To get to the final in Florida, Oliver beat a shortlist of 250 people that descended upon Westfield, White City, to compete in L.S.A Live this summer.

The two-day event saw cadets undergo physical and mental challenges in a giant “Launch Pad” – an 18m x 9m inflatable assault course, which is used by the British Army for testing fitness, stamina and agility.

Just 24 cadets made it through the ”Launch Pad” stage and on to the second set of challenges, which included the ‘G-Force Impact’, ‘Vertical Moonwalk’, ‘Neuro Analyser’ and a ‘Particle Extractor’.

The top ten finalists were then grilled by a panel of experts. The chosen four from the panel section went head-to-head in the last challenge, a ‘Flying Space Drone’ mission, before jetting off to Florida for the deciding final round.