Space traveller from Birmingham waited 18 years to go into orbit

Trevor Beattie, from Birmingham, has become the 667th human being to travel into space.

He said he had bought a ticket 18 years ago "when it was considerably cheaper", although the trip had cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Mr Beattie, 64, an advertising executive, took off from Spaceport America, in New Mexico, on Friday on board Virgin Galactic's latest space tourist mission.