Britain’s newest astronaut came back to Earth with a bump, by watching England crash and burn in the Euros.
Just hours after landing aboard Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic spacecraft, engineer Colin Bennett joined the Daily Mirror for a well-earned celebratory drink and to see the game.
He had helped make history by taking the VSS Unity 53.3 miles above the Earth’s surface.
And he was hoping the Three Lions would also write their names in the record books.
The dad-of-one even had the message: “It’s Coming Home” on the sleeve of his flight suit.
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Despite being disappointed by England’s loss on penalties to Italy, Bennett said it could not take away from “one of the greatest days of life”.
The Liverpool fan said: “Although we just failed to bring the Euros trophy home, we made history in other ways.
“It is fantastic what everyone at Virgin Galactic achieved and I hope it’s added to the pride people feel back home.
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“It was both staggering and mind-blowing. It’s going to take me a while, but it’s with me for ever now. It was just amazing.”
Bennett, was who born in Scotland but moved to England at an early age, was one of three Britons aboard Sunday’s flight, alongside billionaire Sir Richard, 70, and chief pilot Dave Mackay.
Bennett, 36, has a master’s in aerospace engineering and was a flight physics engineer for the defence tech company QinetiQ.
He later worked at Virgin Atlantic Airways and joined Virgin Galactic in 2015.
His role on VSS Unity was to evaluate cabin procedures during boost and weightlessness.
On landing, the former pupil of Clevedon School in North Somerset said of his adventure into space: “For me, this is all about trying to inspire the next generation and kids and anybody else out there who has ever dreamed about going into space.”
The brief Unity 22 flight was intended to pave the way for space tourism and as a confidence-booster for Virgin Galactic.
Virgin plans to take paying customers on joyrides next year. More than 700 have signed up for the £180,000-per-ticket flights, including Tom Hanks, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga.
VSS Unity was carried by its mothership to 50,000ft then released.
Sir Richard and his crew accelerated to 2,600mph on their way to the edge of space.
They experienced a short spell of weightlessness at 282,000ft above Earth.
Unity rolled on to its belly and offered sweeping views of the planet below.
The craft then pointed down, raised it wings and made its way back to the ground.
In completing the mission, the Virgin boss has won the “billionaire space race” by becoming the first tycoon in orbit, beating rival Amazon boss Jeff Bezos by just nine days.
The world’s richest man is due to take off from his launch pad in West Texas on July 20 on board his New Shepard rocket.
