The first British person in space (opens in new tab)

I wasn't aware of it until now, and I was surprised to find out that it took until 1991 for a Briton to fly to space - and with the Russians/Soviets no less, not with the Americans. But, if you look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_space_travel_by_na..., it looks like the Soviets recognized the propaganda value of giving a ride into space to citizens of "allied" nations (putting it in quotes because the Eastern European nations weren't really given the choice if they wanted to be USSR allies or not) much earlier than the Americans. When the US took West German Ulf Mehrbold into space with them in 1983, the Soviets had already done the same for ten (!) foreign nationals, including East German Sigmund Jähn in 1978 and Frenchman Jean-Loup Chrétien in 1982.

OK, to be fair, the US simply didn't have any crewed space launches between 1975 and 1981, that probably goes a long way to explaining this disparity. But still, once they started taking foreign citizens with them, I would have thought that Britain would be among the first on that list. Between 1984 and 1985 there were a Canadian, a Saudi, someone from the Netherlands and a Mexican, and then there was a long pause until 1992, presumably because of the Challenger disaster.

The story I remember is that at the time she worked for Mars (developing the Mars ice cream), so one of the tabloids had the headline:

"Woman from Mars goes to space!"

Funny this should show up today. Tomorrow evening (23rd of May), Helen Sharman is appearing at a live QA session at the National Space Centre - https://www.spacecentre.co.uk/whats-on/an-evening-with-helen...

It is sold out...

Couldn't help but be reminded of Eddie Izzard's old "Career Advisor" bit:

"I want to be a space astronaut, go to outer space and discover things that have never been discovered!"

"Look, you're British, so scale it down a bit, all right?"

https://youtu.be/xGGeLHnDQk8?si=XNEC8Pg8xER6EBOX&t=12

It was really sad how she doesn't get the recognition she deserves for being the first Briton in space. Whether it's because she's a woman or because it was with the Russians she hasn't received the level of respect or adulation you expect for the achievement.

I remember Tim Peake being touted as the first British astronaut, and being a little confused (having previously met Helen Sharman at Imperial College London) had to dig this story up myself.

That's a fantastic story. The "no experience necessary" ad is wild to think about now. It really shows how different the space industry was back then—and how a random moment can change everything. Sharman seems genuinely humble about it too. Thanks for sharing.

Even in space, it's One Group vs The Others. To quote Trump, "Sad."