‘I worked on mission to get Tim Peake into space and have helped pave way for launch of UK’s Mars rover’

Yorkshire-born Sue Horne has been recognised with an honorary degree for her pioneering space work. She speaks to Laura Reid about a fascinating 30 years in the industry.

Sue Horne has had a fascinating career in the space industry. She has been a driving force behind the UK's flagship Mars rover, Rosalind Franklin, due to launch in 2028 and also oversaw the UK Space Agency’s role in Tim Peake’s historic mission to the International Space Station back in 2015.

She has rather an unusual career highlight too – sending a Clanger up into orbit.

That knitted children’s television character, made by Sue more than a decade ago, accompanied her to the University of Sheffield last month, when the space exploration pioneer received an honorary degree in the city where she was born.

“Sheffield means so much to me. And the nomination came from the science community so that means a lot too,” she says, adding: “I am so proud about how the space community has developed and what they are achieving - and that they think I have helped them achieve their ambitions is brilliant."

Preparing an address to deliver at the ceremony gave Honorary Doctor of Science Sue the chance to reflect on her 30 years in the industry, from which she retired two years ago, before later having her MBE upgraded to an OBE in the King's Birthday Honours in recognition of her work in space exploration and Mars science.

“I’m just old enough to remember Neil Armstrong’s landing on the moon (in 1969). I remember going to a tour of the return capsule around the world,” the 62-year-old recalls. “I never ever thought I’d be involved in space - I didn't think people in the UK did that, I thought it was all NASA and Russia, so it was fascinating to become involved in the space sector.”

It was 1991 when she first began work in the field through a role in the Science and Engineering Research Council. She’d joined there from a job with the Atomic Energy Research Establishment in Harwell which she’d secured following a placement during her degree in archaeological sciences at the University of Bradford.

Her first focus was on earth observation, and Sue then went on to work in solar terrestrial physics and the UK’s development of space science instruments and robotics. She served at the UK Space Agency until her retirement in March 2024, playing a pivotal role in building, shaping and championing the UK's Mars science community and leading the exploration team during a defining moment for the nation’s space sector when Tim Peake became the first British European Space Agency astronaut to visit the International Space Station.

Sue’s knitted Clanger went too. She had rediscovered a childhood enjoyment for knitting as a way to decompress whilst working on the complex case around the UK’s involvement in human space exploration. “I loved The Clangers when I was little, really loved them,” she says. “And I knitted some Clangers. My boss had a display cabinet at work with all these bits of space instruments and as a wind up I went in early one morning and put one of these clangers in there. I found out he loved The Clangers and it became a permanent feature.”

Soon, people at work started taking the knitted creations on holidays and capturing pictures of them in various locations. “Then someone from the European Space Agency visited us about the Tim Peake flight and they, unknown to me, were given one of the clangers and it went on the flight with Tim Peake to the International Space Station. It returned and I do still have it,” she laughs.

It’s on the list of her career highlights, up there with her work on the Rosetta spacecraft mission to land on a comet. That project shows the longevity of space programmes, she says. Her involvement started when she was pregnant in 1994 and data came back from the mission when her son was in his last year of university. “Being involved in that, from the beginning to the end, is definitely a highlight.”

What also brings Sue great pride is her (continuing) support of the next generation of space scientists, advocating in particular for women in STEM careers and consistently championing national space initiatives, raising awareness and support for the country's space ambitions.

Speaking about a project she developed for schoolchindren early in her career, she says: “The space industry was short of people but my feeling was this was just about getting children interested in science and inspired to think I can do this, and go on to take further study in science, perhaps pursue a career. It paid off because much later in life, a girl who was working for me told me it was this schools programme that inspired her to do science which was really rewarding to hear.”

"The space industry wants good people, being good is what matters to them,” adds Sue, who lives now in South Wales. “In the past I have found myself the only woman in the room but I have never found this to be a problem. I have also found that once there is one woman, it encourages others into the field. So, if you are the only woman, remember you are opening the way.”

Over her career, Sue has witnessed greater collaboration within the space industry and a huge development of technology. Space work is often at the fore of driving innovation, she says, and within the next 50 years, she believes human exploration will see astronauts land on Mars.

It’s fascinating, too, to be at the leading edge of science around understanding where we’re from and how things develop, she reflects. “The big question now, and one I would love to see answered, is ‘is there life elsewhere in the universe?’. We now have an understanding that there are so many planets out there and we are starting to discover some that are of the right size, and the right environment, that could sustain life. So the next step is to prove there is life.”