Dr Helen Sharman: The Yorkshire chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person and first Western European woman in space 35 years ago

Dr Helen Sharman, from Sheffield, is a chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person and first Western European woman in space 35 years ago.

Dr Helen Sharman was only 27-years-old when she became an astronaut and that same year she was the first British person and Western European woman in space.

According to the Helen Sharman CMG OBE: The First British Astronaut website, she is the president of the Institute of Science and Technology and has published two books: Seize the Moment and The Space Place - which is a children’s book).

Helen broke the record by becoming the first person from the UK in space on May 18, 1991, when she launched into space for eight days orbiting the Earth.

Early life of Helen Sharman

Helen was born in Grenoside, Sheffield, where she attended Grenoside Junior and Infant School, moving on to Greenhill.

She graduated with a BSc degree in chemistry at the University of Sheffield in 1984, as well as a MA degree in Central and South-East European Studies from UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies.

She also obtained a PhD from Birkbeck, the University of London in 1987 and worked as a research and development technologist for GEC in London. Helen later worked as a chemist for the American confectioner Mars, dealing with flavouring properties of chocolate.

Helen Sharman’s career in space

Her first space venture began when she responded to a radio advertisement asking for applicants to be the first British space explorer. Helen was selected for the mission live on ITV on November 25, 1989, among nearly 13,000 other applicants.

The programme was titled Project Juno and was a cooperative Soviet-British mission co-sponsored by a group of British companies.

The goal was to enhance the relationship between the UK and the Soviet Union in the final period of the Cold War by sending a British astronaut to the Mir space station.

Helen expressed her enjoyment of the training process including living in Russia, learning the language and doing advanced mechanics.

Before flying, she spent 18 months in intensive flight training in Star City, Moscow and trained alongside her British back-up Major Tim Mace.

Later career

As of 2017, Helen was named the sixth youngest of 556 individuals who have flown in space at the age of 27 years and 11 months old.

She has not returned to space, however, she was one of three British candidates in the 1992 European Space Agency astronaut selection process and was on the shortlist of 25 applicants in 1998.

Helen broke several records during her career, including: first British cosmonaut (November 1989), first British person in space (May 1991) and first Western European woman in space (May 1991).

She spent most of her career following her mission to Mir as self-employed, communicating science to the public.

Her autobiography, Seize the Moment, was published in 1993 while her children’s book The Space Place was published in 1997.

By 2011, Helen was working at the National Physical Laboratory as group leader of the Surface and Nanoanalysis Group and became operations manager for the department of chemistry at Imperial College London in 2015. That same year, she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the British Science Association.

She has presented radio and television programmes including BBC Schools and has appeared as herself on Hollyoaks in August 2016.

According to the Helen Sharman CMG OBE: The First British Astronaut website. Helen is currently the UK Outreach Ambassador for Imperial College London.