Christopher Hollingshead, Deputy Manager of Yates’s in Newport on the Isle of Wight is one step closer to achieving his boyhood dream of travelling to space.

Chris recently put out an appeal asking people to vote for him in the Lynx Apollo National Challenge in order that he could join a lucky few and go up in space. It clearly worked as he has been notified that he is one of an elite group of 250 people to take part the National Challenge which takes place in July at London’s Westfield.

Speaking about his potential intrepid adventure, Chris said: “I can’t believe I am through to the next stage of the competition which is called the Lynx Space Academy Live and would like to thank all those who voted for me. I literally rocketed up the leader board so it just goes to show what people power can achieve!

“I’ve already joined the local gym to make sure I’m at the peak of physical fitness as I’ve been told I’ll be undergoing a gruelling one day test of physical and mental stamina in front of a live audience, which is pretty daunting. The top four will then be selected to go to Global Space Camp in Orlando, Florida. Once at Global Space Camp participants will be put through their paces in three training missions before the select few are chosen so hopefully I’ll be flying the Yates’s flag in space if all goes well!”

The winners of the competition will take part in a 103km trip into space with space tourism company, Spaceexc.