TECHNICAL problems aside, a former pupil at Cranbrook School is set to blast off into space on Wednesday.

Piers Sellers, who left the school in 1973, is due to take off on board the Space Shuttle Atlantis, which will deliver vital supplies to the International Space Station. The original launch date of August was postponed.

He will also be taking a copy of the school's foundation charter, signed by Elizabeth I, which will be brought back and displayed alongside the original. Mr Sellers, 47, joined the NASA astronaut programme in 1996.

Mark Jeffery, who attended the school just after Mr Sellers, will be present at the launch. He is an RAF wing commander stationed in Tampa as part of Operation Enduring Freedom - set up to combat terrorism after the September 11 attacks.