We should push forward not only our own individual boundaries but also the boundaries of what humans believe is possible. People are the biggest limitations in our own lives. There is a huge amount we can do and we should make best use of our lives for the benefit of the world.
– Helen Sharman
The CLCC Annual Guest Lecture will this year be given by Helen Sharman, who made history in 1991 becoming the first British astronaut when she launched on a Soyuz spacecraft to spend eight days orbiting the Earth, most of that time on the Mir Space Station.
Helen’s lecture will take you on a journey into space, describing how, as a chemistry graduate working in industry, she was selected to become an astronaut and, through her experience, learned to appreciate science in a totally different way.
Helen’s Space Mission was set in the context of the last few years of the Soviet Union, when the Soviet Space Agency had approached western European countries with a view to flying one of their nationals to the Mir Space Station. It was an important time in UK-Soviet relations; President Gorbachev even telephoned from the Kremlin to congratulate the crew on docking to Mir and to wish them a successful Mission.
Helen will describe feeling weightless, what this means for science in space and the impact on the daily life of astronauts. Helen continues to use her experience of spaceflight to communicate science and she inspires people of all ages to take an interest in science and to keep an open mind to life’s opportunities.