BRITISH-born astronaut Piers Sellers is on his way back to earth home after completing one of NASA's most dangerous missions.

Mr Sellers, a former pupil of Cranbrook School, is due to re-enter the earth's orbit tomorrow (Friday) and should be back on terra firma shortly afterwards.

The astronaut, who now lives in America with his wife and children, blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on October 7.

He and his five colleagues had to attach a £260m aluminium truss to the International Space Station 100 miles above the Earth, to make way for its future expansion.

A hurricane and technical problems had beset the launch, although NASA has confirmed that the seven-hour space walk to attach the 14-metre truss was a complete success.

Mr Sellers joined the NASA astronaut mission six years ago and mission control let him know when the shuttle flew over the United Kingdom. Mr Sellers was able to say nothing more than "oh wow".

Bridget Santer, Cranbrook School spokeswoman, has been following the story and said that she had heard Mr Sellers had been blasting out his favourite songs on the space station stereo.

She added: "They are playing requests from their wives up there - it's very sweet. It all seems to be going ahead really well and we just hope he gets home safely."