British Astronauts

This page requires a total makeover updating both content and Astronaut Images and individual biographical details.
But for the moment I have just mirrored the page as it was on GeoCities
Douglas Ian Holland October 2009

Tony Llewllyn

Dr. John Anthony (Tony) Llewllyn was born in Wales, but moved to the USA and became an American citizen on 17 February 1966. On 4 August 1967 he was selected by NASA for Astronaut training as part of the "Group 4" (Or the "XS-11", as they referred to themselves) of scientist-astronauts (He held a PhD in Chemistry and Engineering from Cardiff University). This group included Jack Schmitt, who walked on the Moon with Apollo 17. Llewllyn, though, withdrew from the programme in 1968, citing personal reasons.

Nigel Wood
In December 1983 the British Government purchased a Space Shuttle flight to launch the Skynet 4A military communications satellite. It was also decided that a British astronaut would be on the launch as a Payload Specialist.
The contenders for the flight were; Nigel Wood, A.H. Boyle, P.H. Longhurst, C.J.N. Holmes and R.A. Farrimond. On 25 April 1985, Wood, an RAF Squadron Leader, was selected. The Shuttle mission he was to fly on was the STS-61H.
Other flights with British astronauts were also planned, the next being STS-71C in January 1987 to launch the Skynet 4B Satellite and complete the Skynet system. This flight was to have carried Royal Navy Commander Peter Longhurst on board, again as a Payload Specialist.
However, in 1986 the Shuttle Challenger tragically exploded, and the programme was halted for several years. NASA also decided not to take any further "passengers" on the Shuttle.
The MOD launched the Skynet satellite on an ESA Ariane launcher instead and Wood returned to his RAF career in Aldershot.

Helen Sharman

Helen Sharman, an engineer with the Mars confectionary company, was selected as a commercial astronaut in 1989. Her flight with the USSR was funded by companies in the UK. On 18 May 1991, the Soyuz spacecraft carrying the "Juno" mission took of from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. In all , Sharman spent about eight days in space, including the flights to and from the Mir Space Station.
After the flight she became a spokesperson for science and technology in Britain, and has presented a science programme on BBC Radio 4. Helen Sharman is still the only British citizen to have flown in space, but she is backing the proposal to put an Briton on the International Space Station (see below).

Michael Foale

Dr. Michael Foale (He holds a PhD in Laboratory Astrophysics from Cambridge) was selected as a NASA Mission Specialist in 1987.
He was born in England, but has dual nationality and flies as an American citizen (Although he is constantly referred to as a "British Astronaut" by the British media).
His first flight was on Shuttle mission STS-45 in March 1992, but he became well known in the UK due to his stay on the Mir Space Station in 1997. On this mission, a Progress cargo ship collided with the Station, causing a partial depressurisation and sending the Station into a spin. The crew solved the problems, and Foale returned from Mir with STS-86 in September 1997.
He has ambitions to fly on the International Space Station when it is completed.

A Briton on the Space Station
The British Government has traditionally been sceptical about manned spaceflight, but in late 1998 the media reported that Michael Foale (See above) had met with Prime Minister Tony Blair to try and persuade him to send a British Astronaut to the International Space Station.
To take part in the project, the UK would have to interest NASA in useful technology, such as the ion thrusters built by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency at Farnborough.
A flight would probably not take place until 2004 at the earliest, as any prospective astronaut would have to be selected as part of a NASA Astronaut Group, and then undergo flight training.
At the time of writing (2002), nothing further about the idea has been reported.

Astronaut Photographs courtesy of: Mark Wade

More to come..

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