‘It’s really happening’: tears of joy as space mission nears Cornwall launch

Touchdown in Newquay of 747 converted to carry satellite-propelling rocket silences even the most hardened doubters

The notion of a space mission being launched from a nondescript corner of a Cornish airport - next to the bus depot actually - has attracted its fair share of scepticism over the years.

But the impressive touchdown in north Cornwall this week of a Boeing 747 converted to carry a rocket primed to propel satellites into space may have silenced even the most hardened doubters.