First Briton in space

nonananna that is very sweet.

Tegan Yes!

I bet lots of people think Edmund Hilary was a Brit. And Ernest Rutherford.
Or that Crick and Watson deserved a nobel prize while their female colleague was ignored.
Or that Wilde, Sheridan, Swift and many other literary Irish luminaries were English.
History is written by the powerful.

Glad its not just me that finds myself wondering about things like that!

Worried about how my mind works these days. Totally unphased at the thought of all this space travel etc but have just been sitting in front of the telly watching the Graham Norton show with my mind being totally boggled by how Kylie Minogue can walk in her shoes........

Slightly off thread but I wanted to share this with my Gransnet friends - Four year old GD and I watched the lift off together and made a cardboard tube rocket and a tin foil covered international space station. She was playing with these whilst I was saying that on a clear night we might be able to see the ISS looking like a bright star moving in the sky. Her response - 'Will the baby Jesus be on it?'
I think she has seasonal information overload

more

Here is mire of the same in true Foxy style

She was the first British woman, he the first British man.

That is an impressive list, thatbags

Can't remember what took me to it today but here's a link to a Wiki page about useful space science spinoffs for anyone who's interested.

On a separate but related subject, I always wondered why Helen was not selected for the ESA. She'd only recently been to space and applied twice, so I would have thought she'd have been selected, especially as other astronauts who like Helen had visited the MIR space station, were selected. It's taken a very long time for a Briton to finally be selected for a mission to the ISS.

I don't get the impression that Helen is being ignored by anyone as the first Briton in space, in fact she's been prominent in the coverage of Tim going into space. Tim going into space is a big deal because he's going to be living in space for 6 months on the ISS and it's a huge first for our country.

All of which seems to mean that Helen Sharman was the first Briton in space, but she didn't qualify as a Brit because of the method of funding

Just found this:

"Major Peake is employed by the European Space Agency and sports a Union flag on his sleeve, which has given rise to his status as a British living legend in space but former chemist Helen Sharman visited the Mir space station in May 1991.

Her trip was made possible by a private programme called Project Juno, and paid for jointly by the USSR and a consortium of British companies."

Read more: www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Twitter-blasts-tell-world-HelenSharman-Brit-space/story-28372003-detail/story.html#ixzz3uZx7mAnQ

I've just seen that "The last time a Briton flew in space without taking US citizenship was in 1991 when Helen Sharman visited the Russian Mir space station" (at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03c57r4)

SueDoku I think it's because Tim is the first publicly funded British astronaut. Helen had to become a US citizen to go into space via NASA. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong!

And if you look on the BBC's 'On This Day' page, it describes Helen as 'the first British astronaut...' So why are they now pretending that Tim is..? Sorry, but I've spent several days being irritated by this, and as I'm fascinated by space exploration it's really bugging me

...and completely agree with the OP, great that Major Tim is on this trip, but Helen Sharman was the first.

Can only echo what thatbags has said, science and the advancement of knowledge is important.

Better knowledge and better education about our planet and how it works is better for everyone, I reckon.

You're right about improvements in health care coming from giving people better care but a great deal of better medical care comes from the science of disease. Don't dis science.

A lot of people don't see the connection between space science and benefits on Earth. That doesn't mean there are none.

Actual knowledge about how the solar system (and, who knows, one day possibly the universe) works is a result of people doing what others thought was pointless science. Some people even thought what they were doing was wicked and against god. Some still do.

Sorry cannot see the link between science in space and the lowering of mortality rate in the third world, more hospitals built, better medical care does not come from science it comes from people caring for people

It's silly that it is felt important when giving news about what Brits do that making the distinction between private and foreign funding (as in Helen Sharman's case) and public funding (as in Tim Peake's) is seen as important.
Have a great ride, Tim Peake, and work hard up there, but you are not the first Brit in space.

And talking of work, one of the reasons I'm in favour of space exploration is because of all the amazing science that results from it, science that benefits the Earth in manifold ways. And things that benefit the Earth benefit people.

Hunger across the world is reducing as we speak, as are infant and maternal mortality rates, and many other bad things. Science research achieved this. A lot of science is done in space and a lot more results from research because of space exploration. The benefits are often indirect and they are not shouted about enough but they are there allright. Understanding more through science is always a good thing in the end.