Who was the first English person in space?

Answer 1

Helen Patricia Sharman OBE (born May 30, 1963), is a chemist and former British astronaut. She was the first Briton in space, on Soyuz TM-12 which took off on May 18, 1991.

Sharman was born in Sheffield; she is married with a daughter. She received a B.S. in chemistry at the University of Sheffield in 1984 and a Ph.D. from Birkbeck, University of London. She worked as an engineer for GEC in London and later as a chemist for Mars Incorporated working with flavorant properties of chocolate.[1]

She was selected as astronaut on November 25, 1989, beating 13,000 applicants, after responding to a radio advertisement asking for applicants to be the first British astronaut.[1] The mission was known as Project Juno and was a cooperative arrangement between the Soviet Union and a group of British companies.

Before flying, Helen spent 18 months of intensive flight training in Star City. The Juno consortium failed to raise the monies expected, and the partnership was almost cancelled. Reportedly Mikhail Gorbachev ordered it to proceed under Soviet expense in the interests of international relations, but in the absence of Western underwriting, substituted less expensive experiments.

The Soyuz TM-12 mission, which included Soviet cosmonauts Anatoly Artsebarsky and Sergei Krikalev lasted 8 days, most of that time spent at the Mir space station. Her tasks included medical and agricultural tests, photographing the British Isles and participating in an amateur radio hookup with British school children.

For her pioneering efforts, Sharman was appointed an OBE in 1993. She has not returned to space since this mission, although she was one of three British candidates in the 1992 European Space Agency astronaut selection, and on the shortlist of 25 applicants in 1998. Sharman now works as a broadcaster and lecturer specialising in science education. In 1991, she lit the flame at the 1991 Summer Universiade, held in Sheffield.