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Helen Sharman, the UK’s first astronaut, blasted into orbit on 18 May 1991.

She carried a photograph of the Queen, a butterfly brooch given by her father and a “space passport” in case her spacecraft was forced to land outside of the Soviet Union.

Sharman was selected from over 13,000 applicants to be the British member of the Russian scientific space mission, Project Juno, and undertook 18 months of training. She had originally answered an advertisement she heard on a car radio: “Astronaut wanted. No experience necessary.”

�鶹Լ�� Archive: Originally broadcast on 18 May 1991.