Helen Sharman

Helen Sharman grew up in Sheffield, studied chemistry there and took a doctorate at Birkbeck while working in industry. By 1989 she was a research chemist for Mars, developing the flavour and texture of chocolate, and had no particular interest in space. Driving home one evening she heard a radio advertisement: "Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary."

Project Juno was a private British venture that had bought a seat on a Soviet flight. About 13,000 people applied. The selection ran through medical tests, psychological interviews, language aptitude and a centrifuge; Sharman was chosen with a Royal Navy officer as her backup, partly because she was fit, calm and could learn Russian quickly. Then the commercial sponsorship fell apart. The flight went ahead only because the Soviet government decided to cover the cost.

She spent eighteen months at Star City outside Moscow, learning the Soyuz systems in Russian and living far from home. On 18 May 1991, aged 27, she launched with two Soviet cosmonauts and spent eight days in space, most of it on the Mir station, running experiments on plant growth and materials and talking by radio to British schoolchildren.

Afterwards there was no British space programme to join. She gave talks for years, worked at the National Physical Laboratory, and became operations manager in the chemistry department at Imperial College London. She was made a Companion of Honour in 2018, and remains firm that space belongs to anyone with the curiosity to go.