By Dea Parkin
the windows. From a viewing platform one kilometre away, Helen’s parents and sister watched as Helen became the first Briton in space. Helen Sharman was in space for almost eight days. Most of that time was spent at the Mir space station, orbiting the Earth two hundred times. She photographed the British Isles, took part in an amateur radio hook-up with British schoolchildren and investigat- ed how pansies grow in weightless conditions. She also conduct- ed a series of experiments including Relotron, a series of bio- chemical blood tests in which crew members’ blood was moni- tored for cholesterol levels, uric acid, haemoglobin and glucose. On May 26th, Helen returned to Earth on board the Soyuz TM11. It landed safely in Kazakhstan, and the ‘space passport’ which she had with her in case the rocket was forced to land out- side the Soviet Union proved unnecessary. The British chemist’s life changed. While continuing to work as a scientist, she became one of Britain’s leading ambassadors for science, giving lectures around the world. She presented numer- ous science-based radio and television programmes and was involved in several educational projects, talking to young people about her experiences, about space and about science and tech- nology in general. In 1992, she was awarded the OBE and later became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Royal Aeronautical Society and the British Interplanetary Society. What Helen didn’t get to do was go to space again. In 1992, she was one of the three British candidates submitted to the European Space Agency to join its astronaut corps. This was in anticipation of the manned Hermes and Columbus programmes. Yet ultimate- ly, none of these three candidates were successful. Dr Gordon Brooks, who was one of the two runners-up in the Juno finals, withdrew some time into the selection process, and Tim Mace was the other disappointed candidate. Tim Mace also featured on the European Astronauts Board Selection (EASB) short- list of 25 in 1998. So did Helen. Neither was selected. Tim Mace was to go on to pilot helicopters for none other than Nelson Mandela, and married the daughter of a Russian cosmonaut, but never went into space himself.
Nationality
Since 1991, five more British-born astronauts have made it into orbit. Out of those, one has dual UK and US nationality and two more had to change their nationality to US in order to fly. The fourth and fifth, while born in Britain, are both US nationals: there have been no astronauts with sole British nationality in space since the original, Helen Sharman.
This might be about to change. In May 2009, Tim Peake, a test pilot from Chichester, was selected as Britain’s first official astro- naut for the European Space Agency - though UK ministers have refused him any financial support. He has yet to fly. However, changes are at last afoot in Britain. The British Interplanet-
ary Society, of which Helen is a Fellow, has long been pushing for more commitment at government level to space programmes, including manned flights.
In April 2010 the UK government launched the UK Space Agency, which brings together several space activities under a single man- agement. It intends to develop a National Space Technology Strategy “to make sure the space sector delivers its potential” and has several other aims, connected to climate monitoring, national security and defence planning, and delivering next-generation broadband. While this is to be applauded, there is no direct mention of assigning funding for manned space flights.
There is, though, the creation of a £40m International Space Innovation Centre (ISIC) at Harwell, Oxfordshire. The centre, which will be located alongside the European Space Agency facility opened last July, “will provide a central hub for British space activ- ity and ensure the UK maintains its world-leading space capabili- ty.” Again, while the official communication talks about Earth observation satellites, using data to understand and counter cli- mate change and “the security and resilience of space systems and services”, putting astronauts in space does not appear. This omission, in Helen Sharman’s eyes, would be disappointing
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▲ Russian Soyuz 12 Space Mission – 1991 Photo by Rex Features
and a huge opportunity missed. In an interview given to The Telegraph last summer, she called for a shift in Government policy to see funds committed to manned space flight.
“Politicians and the Government have become too interested in short-term gains. Of course, if you look at the direct financial returns in the short term, human space flight is expensive. But they need to look longer term.
“People are fascinated by space flight. It makes them interested in science, gets them asking questions and motivates them. Most of all, it will give people the feeling that Britain is not getting left behind when it comes to technology and worldwide status. “Since my space flight I have met many people, from tiny children to pensioners, who are aggrieved we are not doing more in space as a nation. Now we have an astronaut in the European Space Agency, the Government needs to start funding some of those human space programmes to ensure he actually gets to fly.”
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