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UVa student soon to be youngest person ever in space

Posted at 12:30 AM, Dec 20, 2013
and last updated 2013-12-20 00:30:35-05

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WTVR)—The youngest person to ever visit space will be a University of Virginia student.

The lucky third-year student got his chance to shoot for the stars thanks to an AXE deodorant company.

“I'm still in disbelief,”  Patrick Carney, age 21, said.  “It was such a crazy feeling.”

AXE Apollo  launched a competition where seven winners were eligible to attend a space camp in connection with the Space Expedition Corporation. From there a final winner was chosen for space.

“It's one of those things that I've always dreamed about and it's something that less than 600 people have ever had the chance to do,” says Carney. “So to be able to experience that is something that I can't even get nervous about.”

“Luckily by the end of the competition I had finished in second place, which was good enough to book my trip to space camp,” Carney said.

Carney took on team building challenges at camp and even had a zero gravity experience. Once the challenges were complete, it was Carney’s name announced  as the winner--and his seat was booked for a day trip in space.

“I walked on stage, just taking it in,” says Carney. “It was nuts, it still is absolutely amazing and unbelievable.”

“It was always something I dreamed about, I've always been keeping track of Space XC and instantly when I heard about the competition, it was just a dream come true to have a chance to experience that.”