Budding astronaut pleads for votes in pursuit of space dream (From Bucks Free Press)

Budding astronaut pleads for votes in pursuit of space dream

12:30pm Tuesday 29th January 2013 in News By Simon Farr

A BUDDING astronaut is pleading for votes so she can boldly go where no Wycombite has gone before.

Joanna Gardner is battling it out with thousands of people to win an once-in-a-lifetime trip into space, in deodorant brand Lynx’s new contest.

Top-voted competitors will qualify for this summer's Lynx Space Academy, where they will be put through their paces during a series of physical and mental NASA-style tests.

The four strongest candidates will then be flown to Orlando, Florida, to experience what it is really like to be an astronaut.

If the brave 24-year-old gets through all that, she will board the SpaceExc craft and fly 103km above the Earth’s surface in 2014.

She said: "When I was at college I studied physics and I have always been fascinated by the universe and how things got put together, but I never thought I’d every have the opportunity to see space first-hand.

"My friends and family think it is absolutely mental but they’ve been really positive and I’ve had good feedback on Facebook."

Music intern Joanna, a former student at Bucks New University, believes she is in a good enough shape to pass the gruelling tests providing she gains enough votes to secure her place at space camp.

But the wannabe space cadet says nothing could prepare her for the final frontier.

She said: "I have done a bungee jump off a bridge once but nothing remotely close to being weightless 64 miles into space.

"My mum is a bit worried but she knows how much I love space. She doubts I would be brave enough to go through with it but I think most people would go for it given the chance."

To vote for Jo, click here.

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