Astronaut spots his local from space

IRELAND’S adopted astronaut revealed last night how his favourite Irish pub helped lift his spirits during his toughest space mission yet.

NASA flight engineer Dan Tani, 47, whose mother Rose, 90, died during his marathon stint on board the international space station (ISS) earlier this year, said he is convinced he saw a high-powered beacon atop the White Lady hotel and pub in Kinsale, Co Cork — his wife Jane’s home town — as he peered through an ISS window as it sped at 27,700 km in orbit 315 kms above the south coast.

“It was just before Christmas, on one of the night passes over southern Ireland,” he said.