Helen Sharman is the first-ever British citizen to travel to space. Initially working as a chemist and an engineer, she got selected on the twelveth 12th expedition to Mir, Soyuz TM-12, as a part of Project Juno, where she was a research cosmonaut.
Helen, along with Anatoli Artsebarski and Sergei Krikalev, spent eight days in Soviet Space Station Mir, from where she did the agricultural and medical tests, pictured the British Isles, and participated in a licensed radio talk with British schoolchildren.
See all the facts on British astronaut, Helen Sharman.
Helen Sharman's Brief Wiki
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Date of Birth: 1963 Birthday: 30 May |
Nationality: British |
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Birth Place: Sheffield, England |
Ethnicity: Caucasian |
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Age: 56-Year-Old |
Mission: Soyuz TM-12 (Mir Mission as a part of Project Juno) |
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Education: University of Sheffield/ Birbeck College |
Height: N/A |
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Occupation: Engineer/Chemist/Astronaut |
Partners: N/A |
Who Is Helen Sharman? Biography And Early Life
When the talks of space and astronauts swirls, Helen Sharman is never left behind. For she is the first British citizen to travel space and also visit Soviet Space Station Mir in 1991 as a part of Project Juno.
Helen was born in 1963 at Sheffield's Jessop Hospital in England, and her date of birth is 30 May. She is a graduate of the University of Sheffield with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry (1984). Later, she received a doctorate from Birbeck College, London.
After her graduation, she started working as an engineer in London. She also served as a chemist for Mars Confectionery Ltd. After responding to the call for astronauts through radio broadcasting, she applied for the Mir mission among 13,000 candidates.
After being selected, she completed eighteen months of flight training at Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre and boarded off to the Soviet Space Station Mir in 1991.
Soviet Space Station Mir Mission
She also was a part of Project Juno in 1989. Helen reserved her seat ahead of 13,000 other applicants for the mission live on ITV after the radio advertisement asked for the applicants to be the first British space explorer.
Before the mission, Helen completed the eighteen-months flight training at Yury Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre in Star City, Moscow Oblast, Russia. In between, the project got almost canceled, but the Soviet Union lifted the fund along with less expensive experiments than the original plans following the impacts on international relationships.
Helen Sharman along with Anatoli Artsebarski and Sergei Krikalev before boarding off to the Soviet Space Station Mir (©: Getty Images)
As part of the twelveth expedition (Soyuz TM-12) to Mir, Helen flew to Mir as a research cosmonaut along with Anatoli Artsebarski and Sergei Krikalev on 18 May 1991.
Helen spent eight days at Mir, where she held the agricultural and medical tests, pictured the British Isles, and participated in a licensed radio talk with British schoolchildren. And, after eight days, Helen descended to earth on 26 May 1991.
Is Helen Sharman Married? Personal Life Insight
Coming to the facts about marital affairs, Helen Sharman is a tight-lipped lady. Despite the fame that she acquired as an astronaut, she refuses to bring her matters in public, which has overshadowed her romantic life.
Nobody knows whether she is married or not, and even where she lives. Only we can hope she will soon come up with her romantic stories in public, but there is less chance of that.
But, she was in a relationship with a guy before her selection for the Soviet Space Station Mir mission in 1991. Helen's mother revealed that her dating life with her boyfriend lasted only for eighteen months, but she (Helen) did not have any love interests in her academic years.
Helen Sharman's Family And Parents
Helen Sharman was born in a very traditional northern family. She grew up with her two siblings, namely, James and Andrea Sharman, in England. By the time she was six-year-old, her parents, John Sharman and Lyndis Sharman started fostering children, especially babies.
Helen disclosed that she would go to school with one child at her house and would find it being replaced by another when she returned.
Talking about her career after graduation, she claimed herself as a selfish girl as she did not give any consideration to her parents and started living independently. By the time she applied for the Soviet Space Station Mir mission in 1991, she had phoned her John and Lyndis and stated about her application, and they laughed, she revealed.
Her parents and sisters watched her boarding off to space from a kilometer away during her flight.
Things To Know On Helen Sharman
Know the three interesting things about Helen Sharman, the first British citizen to travel to space:
1) Helen was just twenty-seven years and eleven months old when she took off to Soviet Space Station Mir in 1991. She became the fifth-youngest person out of five-hundred and fifty-six astronauts, who boarded off to space.
2) For her accomplishments in the Mir, she got a star of Sheffield Walk of Fame. She got appointed as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1992 Birthday Honours and also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (HonFRSC) in 1992.
3) Helen, now, serves as an operations manager at Imperial College London’s chemistry department and is a fellow of Royal Aeronautical Society, Sheffield Hallan University, Royal Society Of Chemistry, and Senior fellow of the University of Sheffield.