If you've ever wondered what it's really like to go into space then now is your chance to find out.

Former NASA astronaut Tony Antonelli will be touching down in Newcastle as part of a short tour of England and he'll be talking about his out-of-this-world experiences at Newcastle University.

And the astronaut has quite a CV to discuss, having served as a commander of the US Navy as well as being a distinguished graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School.

As a pilot, he has accumulated more than 3,200 hours in 41 different kinds of aircraft and was picked to be a NASA pilot in 2000.

His first mission into space was as pilot of STS-119 on board Space Shuttle Discovery in March 2009.

The following year he also served as pilot on STS-132 Atlantis and his space credentials add up - precisely -  to 24 days, three hours; 57 minutes and 35 seconds in space: not that he's counting.

The now-retired astronaut has won various service awards as well as being the recipient of the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal.

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For anyone who wants to hear about what it takes to be an astronaut and how it actually feels to live the dream, there are still some tickets to available to the Newcastle event.

An evening with astronaut Tony Antonelli, is hosted by Pint of Science, an annual science festival which also runs one-off events, and ISSET Space & Stem which is a charity promoting space and stem-related  adventures.

It will take place in the Curtis Auditorium of Newcastle University on February 20 from 7pm-9pm, as part of a short February 18-22 tour for Antonelli which will see him also visit Birmingham, Leeds and Portsmouth.

For tickets see here or for more information see here .