TEENAGE rocket builder Daniel Curnow is confident of blasting one of his home-made projectiles 20,000 feet high by early autumn.

Last week the 18-year-old from Arkholme was delighted with the success of a static test firing of his newly-developed rocket engine.

"We got a got a higher than expected thrust out of it, and it was more powerful than we'd hoped.

Basically everything that could have gone wrong went right."

Daniel, who has been working on his rocket project for the last few years supported and sponsored by a number of local companies, is also confident that the rocket he hopes to send up in autumn will be able to hit the 20,000 feet mark.