Today's Famous Brits Assembly was about Helen Sharman and the presentation was by two of our year 6 pupils. Having obtained a PhD in Chemistry, Helen worked as a development technologist for Mars. She was selected to be Britain’s first astronaut, participating in Project Juno in 1991. She spent eight days in space. Sharman was born in Grenoside, Sheffield, where she attended Grenoside Junior and Infant School, later moving to Greenhill. After studying at Jordanthorpe Comprehensive, she obtained a BSc degree in chemistry at the University of Sheffield in 1984 and a PhD degree from Birkbeck, University of London. She worked as a research and development technologist for GEC in London and later as a chemist for Mars.
Sharman was 27 years and 11 months old when she went into space, making her (as of 2017) the sixth youngest of the 556 individuals who have flown in space. Sharman has not returned to space, although she was one of three British candidates in the 1992 European Space Agency astronaut selection process and was on the shortlist of 25 applicants in 1998.