X Factor host Dermot O’Leary is set to present a new show from space.

The handsome host won’t be blasting off just yet, though.

Instead Dermot will present from NASA's control room during a two-hour hour live broadcast from the International Space Station as it completes an orbit of earth.

During the Live From Space Season Dermot will also front two other space-themed shows, called Astronauts: Living in Space and Astronauts: Houston We Have a Problem.

Said Dermot of the hosting gig: “Like most of my Star Wars/Trekkie generation, space has always held a fascination.”

He added that, when he was first told about the show: “I had to try hard not to revert back to being the eight-year-old kid and the excitement I felt watching the first space shuttle take off in ’81.”

From Space: Lap of the Planet will interact with astronauts currently in space, sharing their bird’s eye view of the planet, while Dermot speaks to them live from NASA’s Mission Control in Houston.

Professor Stephen Hawking and British astronaut Tim Peake are also set to appear on the show.

Dermot added: “It's already been an education to research this project and so I can't wait to join the viewers in finding out both the spectacular (and what the astronauts would consider mundane, but most of us will find fascinating) workings of the ISS.”

Live From Space Season will air on Channel 4 in March.