Helen Sharman

Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary.

A radio advert on a summer evening in 1989 was to set Helen Sharman’s life on a completely new course.

The chemist was on her way home from work at the confectionery manufacturer Mars Confectionery Ltd when she heard on the car radio: “Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary”.

Helen applied and was selected in November 1989 from a pool of 13,000 applicants.

With her calm, practical and friendly manner, she was an excellent team player. Exactly the sort of person the selection panel had been looking for.

But she still had a long way to go before her departure on the Soviet Soyuz from Baikonur. For 18 months, she prepared for life in space at Star City near Moscow: first she learnt Russian, then how to cope with weightlessness and how to manage in a cramped space capsule. Every conceivable scenario that could arise during a spaceflight at a speed of 17,500 miles per hour had to be run through.

Finally, on 18 May 1991, Helen set off for the MIR space station with two Soviet cosmonauts for a 8 day mission. On the space station, her tasks included experiments in medicine, agricultural technology and chemistry.

She became the first British astronaut.

Every day, she and the crew were exposed to high risks. The decisive factor for the mission’s success was teamwork.

Like any other astronaut, she would love to go back: to experience that feeling of weightlessness and that team spirit once more. And the unique and beautiful views of Earth and the stars from up there.

After her spaceflight, Helen turned to science communication. She won several awards for her radio and television programmes.

She provided media coverage of the spaceflight of the second British astronaut, Tim Peake, to the International Space Station (ISS) from December 2015 to June 2016. When SpaceX, Elon Musk’s space company, launched its first crewed flight to the ISS in May 2020, Helen’s expertise and analysis were in demand worldwide in TV and radio interviews.

During the historic Artemis II mission, when four astronauts travelled to the Moon in April 2026, Helen Sharman was once again involved in media coverage for the BBC, ITV and Sky as a commentator.

On Sunday, 4 October, Helen will speak in the Paulussaal in Freiburg, Germany about her time in space and the future of space travel. In the second part, she will answer questions from the audience. The lecture will be held in English.

An evening with the first British astronaut Helen Sharman.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/culture/article/20260518-helen-sharman-the-story-behind-the-first-british-person-in-space

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