Ex-Olympian with Parkinson’s, 80, set for Virgin space flight after 18-year wait

An 80-year-old former Olympian with Parkinson’s disease is to blast off on Virgin Galactic’s first space tourism flight next month (MarsScientific.com/Trumbull Studios/PA)

An 80-year-old former English Olympian with Parkinson’s disease is to blast off on Virgin Galactic’s first space tourism flight next month – 18 years after buying his 250,000 dollar (£194,500) ticket.

Jon Goodwin competed as a canoeist in the 1972 Games in Munich and said he will be the first Olympian to become an astronaut when the VSS Unity takes off from New Mexico in the USA for a 90-minute trip into space on August 10.