Helen Sharman: Britain's First Astronaut, Sunday February 19, The Whitla Hall, Belfast.
THE Northern Ireland Science Festival is bringing scientist and astronaut Helen Sharman to Belfast to share her fascinating first-hand experiences of becoming the first British person in space.
In 1989, 26-year-old Sharman was working as a chemist for the Mars chocolate company when she heard an intriguing radio advert: "Astronaut wanted, no experience necessary."
She responded to the ad for Project Juno, a space mission jointly sponsored by the Soviet Union and British business – beating almost 13,000 other applicants to win a place aboard a Soyuz spacecraft.
Following 18 months of intensive training in Star City near Moscow, in May 1991 Sharman became the first Brit in space, spending almost eight days orbiting the Earth and conducting experiments aboard the MIR Space Station.
Twenty-six years on from her space adventure, Sharman will be discussing the historic mission with an audience in Belfast.
Now operations manager of Imperial College London’s chemistry department, she will share the inside track on her meticulous training and preparation, the experience of launch and landing, how weightlessness feels, what it's like living and working in space and the process of adjusting to life back on Earth afterward.
An essential evening for all space nuts.
:: Tickets £14/£10 concession via NIScienceFestival.com.
