42 | New Scientist | 28 September 2019“ I am angered by
the fact that we’re
destroying Earth”
Helen Sharman glimpsed our planet’s fragility during her
time in space. Now, she tells Adam Vaughan, she wants
others to see it too
I
N 1989, Helen Sharman answered a radio
advertisement that would change her life.
She applied to be an astronaut aboard the
Soviet space station Mir, competing against
13,000 other candidates for the chance to be
the first British citizen in space. She got the job.
The privately funded mission, called Project
Juno, almost didn’t happen because of money
problems but the Soviet Union eventually
picked up the bill. In 1991, aged 27, she became
a household name, spending eight days in
space performing scientific experiments.
After her return to Earth, she wrote books,
visited schools and undertook speaking tours
about science. Ironically, given her cosmic
voyage, she became known for her down-to-
earth manner. “It took me 2 hours to get round
the supermarket to buy a can of beans because
everybody wanted to know what it was like in
space,” she says, smiling.
Sharman retreated from public life in the
noughties, before joining the National Physical
Laboratory in 2011 and then moving to Imperial
College London to become operations manager
at the department of chemistry in 2015.
Now, she has narrated a voiceover for a virtual
reality project with Danish renewable energy
company Ørsted, to help democratise access
to the “overview effect”, the unique perspective
astronauts get of Earth and its fragility.
In our conversation, Sharman is warm,
loquacious and passionate when talking about
everything from the future of space flight to
the environment and Brexit.Features Interview
Helen Sharman
was the first British
citizen in space,
returning to Earth
on 26 May 1991What was your first view of Earth from
space like?
As soon as you’re out of the atmosphere, the
fairings jettison and light can come through
the window. Luckily for me, I was on the part
of the spacecraft that was pointing towards
the Earth so I could see the Pacific Ocean,
with the curvature of the Earth and black
space above. It was really, really bright.How would you describe the overview effect?
When you look down on the Earth, you can’t
see the political boundaries. Politics means
absolutely nothing because you’re seeing the
natural world. When you’re zipping around in
low Earth orbit, in 92 minutes you’ve gone
completely around the Earth. So instead of it
being this huge place that you can apparently
do anything to that’s really robust, it’s actually
a very tiny place where everything is affecting
everything else.
We’re all part of the Earth and the Earth is
as much part of us as we are of it. I am angered
by the fact that we are apparently destroying
the very thing that’s given us life, as opposed
to what we could be doing, which is living
symbiotically.What did being in space make you realise?
Physical possessions, material stuff is
absolutely meaningless. I had everything
around me that I needed. I had the basic
clothes that I needed. I had food, warmth
and shelter.That’s not to say it’s not nice to have the
occasional nice item of clothing or that I am
against fashion at all. I do buy new clothes
every so often. But I think we put too much
emphasis on what we own. And we identify
quite often with the car we drive.
We use our possessions as an extension
of ourselves. We should just think about
what’s really important, and generally
consume less.You almost sound like an environmentalist.
Would you describe yourself as one?
I describe myself as a scientist and as
somebody who cares for the world we live in.
But I’ve never been an environmentalist in the
sense of somebody who’s devoted their life to
protecting the environment. Being a scientistGUY^ BEL
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