David Boutflour’s background is as far from the glamour of space launches as it’s possible to imagine.
The 31-year-old worked in hospitality for nine years, becoming the general manager for a gastro-pub in Cheshire. But it wasn’t the real career for him. “I felt I could do more,” he says.
Mr Boutflour had been interested in space and aviation from a young age, mentioning Concorde as an early inspiration.
A course at Portsmouth University caught his imagination – the UK’s first Space Systems Degree Apprenticeship launched in conjunction with BAE Systems.
To build up funds to help pay for the course, he switched to lorry driving – a move which did not prepare his social circle for his change of direction.
“Everybody thought I was lying when I said I’d been accepted on this course. They thought I was pulling their leg, going from truck driver to space engineer!”
The four-and-a-half year course involves on-the-job learning at sites where BAE Systems designs and assembles satellites.
Back at Portsmouth they’ll be studying space systems engineering.
The academic side of the course consists of four modules, in thermodynamics, programming, digital systems and maths, all split between lectures and laboratory time.
