Helen Sharman, first Briton in space, offers glimpse of life awaiting her successor, Tim Peake
by Robin McKie from on (#W20S)
As Tim Peake prepares for a six-month stay on the space station, Helen Sharman, Britain's first astronaut, talks about the experience that awaits him
When Tim Peake is blasted towards the stars next month on a Russian Soyuz rocket, he will carry an unexpected but highly appropriate gift with him. He will take a book, Road to the Stars by Yuri Gagarin, that was given to him last month by a fellow astronaut, Helen Sharman. This is the copy she took into orbit in May 1991 when she became the first Briton in space.
"Tim asked me if there was anything I had that I would like him to take," said Sharman. "He wanted to make that link between me, the first Brit in space, and himself, the second. I have kept the book very safe for 24 years and now Tim is going to take it up to the international space station."
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