Dr. Helen Patricia Sharman is a British chemist who became the first British astronaut and the first woman to visit the Mir Space Station in 1991.
Sharman was born on 30 May 1963 in Grenoside, Sheffield, where she attended Grenoside Junior and Infant School, later moving to Greenhill. She received a BSc in chemistry at the University of Sheffield in 1984 and a PhD from Birkbeck, University of London.
After responding to a radio advertisement asking for applicants to be the first British astronaut, Helen Sharman was selected for the mission live on ITV, on 25 November 1989, ahead of nearly 13,000 other applicants. The program was known as Project Juno and was a cooperative Soviet Union–British mission co-sponsored by a group of British companies.
Before flying, Sharman spent 18 months in intensive flight training in Star City. The Project Juno consortium failed to raise the monies expected, and the program was almost cancelled. With a view to the flight's impact on international relations, the project proceeded under Soviet expense although as a cost-saving measure, less expensive experiments were substituted for those in the original plans.
True or False?
- Helen Sharman went into space at the age of 27. _________________
- Helen received a BSc and a PhD at the same university. _________________
- The program known as Project Juno was successful thanks to the monies raised by British companies.
_________________
- Like Helen, there were about 13.000 people wanting to take part in the mission in 1989.______________
Read the passage again and choose the best answer (A, B, C or D)
- The word “those” refers to:
A. relations B. plans C. experiments D. monies
- It can be inferred from the passage that:
A. Helen received a PhD in her hometown city.
B. It took Helen less than a year to train for her flight into space.
C. Soviet people were very interested in international relations.
D. Helen was selected for the mission because she was young.
