First British Astronaut

[im from uranus]

Good luck to him! (Or her!)

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | British astronaut to be announced (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8058601.stm)

[Biggles225]

1. Should have been me :{
2. Should have been 45 years ago at least! :oh:

[Wensleydale]

I would have thought that the first Brits in orbit were those military personnel who had just read PR09.

[ORAC]

There was me thinking it was Helen Sharman back in 1991 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Sharman)....

[Top Bunk Tester]

So why have the AAC got the monopoly on this (Kevlar donned for incoming)........Tim Mace was runner up to Helen Sharman in the first cosmonaut batch and now we find another AAC member up for it, and why are they all called Timothy. Come on light blue, pull your fingers out. Maybe it's due to manning levels :ugh:

Anyway good luck to the chap......Per Ardua Ad Astra

[greycoat]

from the pprune archive you can see the RAF did have an earlier candidate but trg was curtailed after the Challenger disaster.

http://www.pprune.org/archive/index.php/t-39044.html

[Cpt_Pugwash]

Orac,
There's also Michael Foale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Foale) who holds the record for the longest time in space by a Briton.

[chopper2004]

Congratulations Tim!!

Referring to that RAF pilot in the 80s who would have gone up in space, i also recall in 87 or 88, there was a trio of officers, one was a Signals Major who went around schools (one of them was my prep school in Cambs) to talk about their training at KSC for a shuttle mission to support Skynet, up to the point of the Challenger crash.

[Fly_For_Fun]

Were there any Crabs in the looser slots?

Well done and all the best.

[minigundiplomat]

Well done to both Tim and the AAC.

This is tangible proof that the AAC has come a long way in recent years.

Good Luck.

[ORAC]

So, is he going to sit in the front seat or the back seat? :}

[Safeware]

Congrats to TP the tp!

Knew him at Boscombe, top bloke.

sw

[Jeep]

Congratulations Tim, well done ESA, great choice.

Jeep

[CrabInCab]

Well done to both Tim and the AAC.

This is tangible proof that the AAC has come a long way in recent years.

Good Luck.

or...

Tangible proof that teenie weenies are space cadets from another planet?
:E

Timbo congratulations, fantastic news fella.
:ok:

Does that make it a three tier Air Corps now?
;)

[GPMG]

Congrats, very envious.

But is there a Ginger conspiricy to take all of the dream jobs? First the arrows and now space. What next, Chris Evans to replace Clarkson on Top Gear?

[P6 Driver]

Nice to have a British astronaut, but I seem to recall photos showing that Helen Sharman & Michael Foale flew with the Stars and Stripes on their suits rather than the Union Flag - apologies if recalled incorrectly...

P6D

[wg13_dummy]

Top Bunk Tester said;

So why have the AAC got the monopoly on this

Because they are selected on merit......:hmm:

[LFFC]

Nice to have a British astronaut, but I seem to recall photos showing that Helen Sharman & Michael Foale flew with the Stars and Stripes on their suits rather than the Union Flag - apologies if recalled incorrectly...

P6D

Helen Sharman flew with a totally different patch on her shoulder!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/5c/Stm12pat.jpg/201px-Stm12pat.jpg

[Backwards PLT]

Because they are selected on merit......http://static.pprune.org/images/smilies/yeees.gif

Yes because in the RAF aircrew get in because their daddy was in the wegiment. I see your "smilie" and raise it! :hmm::hmm:

Edited to add - PR09 out? Where can I get the info?

[wg13_dummy]

Yes because in the RAF aircrew get in because their daddy was in the wegiment. I see your "smilie" and raise it!


One pace forward all those who are Astronauts and in the RAF? Stand still crab.... :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm: :hmm:

[dead_pan]

Well done Timmy and the AAC.

The cynic in me believes this to be ESA's latest publicity stunt. Chances of them getting a ride on anything any time soon is unlikely, even less so given the upcoming retirement of the last space-worthy Shuttle. The Rooshians and yanks will have first dibs on Soyuz and, as for ESA's manned spaceflight programme, last time I looked it was still at the 'planning stage'. Will probably play second fiddle to Galileo for many years to come.

[Lima Juliet]

Ok, someone's got to do it...

Ground Control to Major Tim
Ground Control to Major Tim
Take your protein pills
and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tim
Commencing countdown,
engines on
Check ignition
and may God's love be with you

[spoken]
Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Liftoff

This is Ground Control
to Major Tim
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule
if you dare

This is Major Tim to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating
in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Though I'm past
one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much
she knows

Ground Control to Major Tim
Your circuit's dead,
there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tim?
Can you hear me, Major Tim?
Can you hear me, Major Tim?
Can you....

Here am I floating
round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do.

:p

[Lima Juliet]

By the way here is Miss Sharman's spacesuit in a museum with Union Flag...

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/27/127600859_68f3b1d710.jpg?v=0

http://www.made-in-sheffield.com/multimedia/people/hsharman3.jpg

Not wanting to belittle Tim's great achievement, but he really isn't the first Briton by a long way :rolleyes:

[sarboy w****r]

Congratulations, good work - hope you get to go into orbit, or beyond.

I tried applying, but ESA weren't interested!

[Ken Scott]

I believe that NASA was hoping for ESA involvement in Orion, first launch 2012 to Earth orbit, 2020 (?) to the Moon, so Maj Tim could be on that. As he's a TP at Augusta Westland shouldn't that be Maj (Retd)?

[wg13_dummy]

Not wanting to belittle Tim's great achievement, but he really isn't the first Briton by a long way


Sharman was technically a Cosmonaunt. Tim is the first British (without duel nationality) Astronaut. ;)

[Backwards PLT]

Jeez I never realised that we had 13 year old A2 QHIs.

[wg13_dummy]

Jeez I never realised that we had 13 year old A2 QHIs.


Aww, bless. Jealous? :hmm:

[Lima Juliet]

Dummy by name, dummy by ?

"Cosmonaut" is the Russian term for the US use of "Astronaut" - by the way the French use "Spationaut" sometimes. If atop an Ariane would that make Tim a "Spationaut" rather than an "Astronaut"? Furthermore, the Chinese use the terms "yǔhángyuán" (宇航员, "sailing personnel in universe") or "hángtiānyuán" (航天员, "sailing personnel in sky").

From your logic the Russians use "Пилот" for Pilot...does that make a Russian Пилот not a pilot...:ugh:

I make Tim 5th in line to the title "first Brit in space". Better than me, although I have at times been called a spaceman a few times by others :}

[wg13_dummy]

You're a tit.

[Lima Juliet]

Oh, the home of witty banter...:D

Blue, Great, Coal or Crested?

The funniest thing you've come up with is the "Cosmonaunt" you mention - is that the female version of the Cosmonuncle??

[wg13_dummy]

Ah, the last bastion of banter on the ropes.....spelling Nazism. :hmm:

[Lima Juliet]

Zeeg Hyall! :ok:

[wg13_dummy]

I was afraid banter had been banned on Pprune but it appears we may have slipped under the Modestasi radar.... :ok:

[ZH875]

Tim is the first British (without duel nationality) Astronaut. ;)


Well that's one way of fighting to become an Astronaut.:ok:

[wg13_dummy]

Yep, fair cop. I'm obviously posting using a head-dobber tonight. :}

[wz662]

Will the Major be allowed to take his Batman with him like Colonel Dare did in the 1960's? :)

[GreenKnight121]

All this mugging banter is fine, but I noticed something...

The BBC article linked in the originating post never claimed (either in the headline or text) that Tim would be "The First Briton in Space", "The First British Astronaut", or any other such thing.

In fact, it includes this comment:
The first Briton in space was Sheffield-born chemist Helen Sharman. She had to secure private funding to fly to the Mir space station on a Russian Soyuz craft in 1991.

Three British-born astronauts have flown into space under an American flag: Michael Foale, Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patric.

The most recent non-governmental British-born astronaut was Richard Garriott. The wealthy games developer paid for his trip, again through the Russians.Thus, it is only ifu that made the mistake.

[Satellite_Driver]

In fact, Tim Peake is the fourth British Army officer to be selected as an astronaut. As well as Maj Tim Mace (Helen Sharman's backup) there were two in the 1980s: Lt Col Tony Boyle and Maj Richard Farrimond.

Boyle was picked as one of the four MOD astronauts who would accompany the launch of Skynet 4A and 4B on the Shuttle (prime and backup for each mission). Unfortunately he had to stand down through being a witness in the long-running Cyprus spy ring investigation, and was replaced by Farrimond. Farrimond was assigned as backup to Sqn Ldr Nigel Wood for the Skynet 4A launch scheduled for mid-1986, but the Challenger disaster put paid to that plan and all the Skynet 4s ended up being launched on conventional rockets.

[im from uranus]

GK121....
The link I posted has since been updated by the BBC.
The original news item did indeed say that the name of Britains first astronaut will be released later...
From the page you've just seen..."Page last updated at 11:27 GMT, Wednesday, 20 May 2009 12:27 UK"
Time of my original post....11:03
Cheers :ok:

[Widger]

Quiet clearly, helicopter pilots have the mental capacity to become Astronauts:E:E:E:E:E:E:E

[jayteeto]

I believe an ex-RAF Puma pilot made it quite a long way through the selection process, but alas no cigar for him. Well done to the winner, I am very very envious of your achievement. :ok:

[+SHRA]

I’m really pleased that Tim got the nod. He is one of those incredibly talented guys that you would love to hate, however he is such a genuinely nice guy that you really can’t! Well done and I sincerely hope he does get to space as it will be richly deserved. :ok:

[Front Seater]

Well done Tim. Truly deserved by a top bloke. I knew him when he worked with the first AH AMTAT and he was instrumental in the team that made AH what it is today.

But lets not be to hasty here....

He is longer a AH Major, he is acivilian Test Pilot for Agusta Westlands, having left the AAC a few months ago. To take it a step further the AAC did absolutely nothing to help him - and when I mean nothing, I am not too sure if the hierarchy even knew that he was doing it, and were even concerned that he was steadily progressing through the selection process.

I am chuffed to NAAFI break for him and his family - but sadly this is yet another case of one of the cream pilots of the Corps not having his career aspirations met by an AAC that is happy to let people leave/transfer rather than follow a career in and around the cockpit.

I am surprised that the Agusta Westland PR machine isn't making more of this great success story for the company, rather than letting ArmyPR take the limelight. Infact I do know - all of the Augusta Westland PR is conducted by its Italian office so isn't really interested in UK stuff (take note - possible wider lesson for the future).

Well done we are all very proud.

[BossEyed]

all of the Augusta Westland PR is conducted by its Italian office

Let's face it - if they were any good, people wouldn't still be mis-spelling their name after all this time... :}

TP, very well done indeed - may your astroboots end up in that extraterrestrial dust after all. :D

[FFP]

Good skills. I know quite a few space cadets in the forces, but no astronauts ;)

[Buster Hyman]

http://freespace.virgin.net/b.world/Gabrielle_Drake.jpg

[BEagle]

Ahhh - the lovely Gabrielle Drake as Lt Ellis!

[Low Ball]

Tim,

From someone who had a small hand in your early flying years well done indeed. More recently you have always been welcome in our Apache sim. Your kindness, interest and professionalism are an example to all. I shall be surprised if I can't blag the odd pint when you get aloft. Respect

LB

[squirrelht1]

Good luck Tim. Well deserved. One up for the AAC.:ok:

Pare Mare Per Terram.:suspect:

[Stitchbitch]

Nice guy Tim, met him whilst on exchange with 1 AAC.:ok:

At least they didn't get HH, thing would have needed a 100,000,000 pounds more thrust to get airborne....:E

[Growbag]

SB, now that is funny banter!.....:D

[Self Loading Freight]

Still waiting for "Refugee" to come true, a short story by Arthur C Clarke written in the days when the UK still had hopes of DIY space exploration. That had the Prince of Wales stowing away in a British rocket in an attempt to get away from media attention. First Windsor in space - now, that'd get the septics' attention.

[Buster Hyman]

First Windsor in space

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/05/20/article-0-0152ADF200000578-752_233x300.jpg

Job taken.