A pilot from the Highlands has become the first Scottish-born astronaut in space.

Dave MacKay was at the helm of Virgin Galactic's latest test flight of its commercial space fleet, SpaceShipTwo.

Today, as part of Virgin Galactic's fifth supersonic mission, he left the Earth's atmosphere for the first time at 4.55pm on Friday.

Born in Helmsdale, he has been the company's chief pilot since 2011.

The 61-year-old has now become the first ever Scot to enter space, despite reports that astronaut Brian Binnie took the title back in 2004.

Although his father is Scottish and he himself grew up in Aberdeenshire, Brian was born in West Lafayette, Indiana in the United States.

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And now Dave has swooped to be named both the first Scot in history and the 569th person to enter space, with Virgin Galactic confirming the success on Twitter.

Virgin Galactic is the world's first commercial spaceline, with owner Richard Branson hoping to make space tourism a reality in the next few years

A series of tests have been carried out since 2011, with SpaceShipTwo entering orbit for the first successful time in December 2018.

SpaceShipTwo took off from Mojave, California after days of weather delay, marking its second successful trip into orbit since a crash in 2014 left a pilot dead.

Onboard the shuttle with Dave was lead trainer pilot Michael J Masucci and chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses.

At the boundary of space, the three crew members on board experienced weightlessness for a moment as they traveled in micro-gravity.

The plane soared as high as 55.85 miles, or 2,949,007 feet, according to Virgin Galactic.

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