Helen Sharman
Helen Sharman
Dr Helen Patricia Sharman OBE FRSCis a British chemist who became the first British astronaut and the first woman to visit the Mir space station in 1991...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionAstronaut
Date of Birth30 May 1963
ahead became city learning life lived remote russian star trip year
I lived at Star City for more than a year ahead of my trip to Mir on May 18, 1991 in Soyuz TM-12. My life at Star City was so remote that learning Russian became my greatest priority.
although appears brick brilliant clouds deserts earth ireland looks red stand
From space, the earth appears predominantly blue; the clouds are brilliant white. Surprisingly, you don't see much green, although Ireland looks green, and so do Scandinavia and New Zealand. The deserts are brick red and really stand out.
atoms became began coming highly negatively positively
As the craft re-entered earth's atmosphere, it was coming in so fast, it heated up the surrounding atoms and molecules, and they became positively and negatively charged, and highly reactive, and began luminescing all around us.
cannot earth gain good science stuff understanding
There is good science you can do in space. There is stuff there you cannot do on Earth and we can gain understanding from it.
asking fascinated gets interested motivates people science
People are fascinated by space flight. It makes them interested in science, gets them asking questions and motivates them.
people
It's very exciting that people could actually live on another planet.
love
I'd love to go back to space, I don't know any astronaut who doesn't want to.
I would much rather fly on Soyuz than the shuttle.
physiology suited
I had been lucky that my physiology is well suited to space training.
although classify paid though time tourist
I don't classify myself as the first space tourist because I wasn't as though I paid and had a holiday out of it - although I had a fab time.
definitely
Britain should definitely be part of a Mars mission.
We should be pushing our boundaries. After all, we Britons are explorers and adventurers.
human science worth
You don't go into space just for the science. Economically, it is not worth it. I think the reason we should be in space is for the exploration; it's the human endeavour.
deal food
Just because I'm a woman does not mean I have to deal with everything to do with food.