Into space at 80... Olympics hero with Parkinson's

Adventurer hopes to inspire others with his trip

- PAUL BYRNE and LUCAS CUMISKEY

AN Olympic canoeist with Parkinson's disease is set to become an astronaut... at the age of 80.

Jon Goodwin plans to board Virgin Galactic's first space tourism flight next month.

And he hopes his adventure will inspire others with the severe condition.

Jon, who competed at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, bought a $250,000 dollar (€226,800) ticket for the flight 18 years ago.

"I always believed it would happen but a lot of people didn't" he said.

"I had a lot of faith in the project and went out to the Mojave Desert [in California] a number of times, and watched the development... right from the beginning.

"It was just to have the opportunity to do something very few other people have done.