What was it like to be an astronaut?

I trained totally with the Soviet (now the Russian) Space Agency. I lived in Star City near Moscow for the eighteen months of training before my space flight and this was where most of the training happened. I took part in some wonderful astronaut traditions there, for example making an official visit to Yuri Gagarin’s old office to write my signature in a book kept for space crews who have been fully prepared for a mission. (Yuri Gagarin died in 1968, 7 years after becoming the first person in space. His office is kept as it was on the day he died, the clock at the time his aircraft crashed into trees while training for another mission.)

I launched into space in a Soyuz spacecraft with two Soviet cosmonauts. The launch itself went to plan except for an oxygen valve which, unbeknown to us at the time, had jammed open and was slowly leaking oxygen into our cabin. Mission Control was ready to abort the Mission after one orbit of the Earth but luckily the valve closed itself just in time and we carried on.
Two days later we had to dock onto the Mir Space Station manually because one of the antennae on the outside of our spacecraft was giving erroneous readings and we couldn’t rely on the automatic docking being successful. If we had completely missed the Space Station we could have orbited the Earth again and had another attempt but we really didn’t want to crash. It was a great relief to float into Mir in one piece. After the cramped conditions in Soyuz we could all stretch out and greet two cosmonauts who had been there for six months.

What did you do while you were in space?

My job was to do a range of scientific experiments in space. For example, I worked with potato roots to see how root cells divided in space and I grew crystals of the protein luciferase. I particularly liked using an air lock to put ceramic films outside to examine the effects of radiation on them – there was a metallic smell when we brought them back inside and we didn’t often have new smells to enjoy.
Most of my experiments were about the effects of weightlessness on physical, chemical and biological systems. Others involved environmental radiation, which is a hazard for astronauts, and Earth observation. It was fascinating to be able to do things in space that we cannot do on Earth.

I returned to Earth with the ‘old’ Mir crew, leaving my crew behind in space. The deceleration as we entered Earth’s atmosphere created more g than the acceleration during launch so it felt incredibly heavy, especially compared to having had no weight at all in space.

Seeing glowing plasma around us and feeling the jerks of the parachutes opening made the landing experience altogether more exciting than the launch, not to mention the bump as we hit the ground. However, we arrived back safe and sound and the rescue team pulled us out of the spacecraft. I had been in space for 8 days.

Why did you decide to become as astronaut?

I did not consider becoming an astronaut until I heard of the opportunity on my car radio as I drove home from work. Britain did not then, and still does not have, an astronaut program so I had never even entertained the idea of going into space. However, a company had been set up to manage a space mission with the Soviet Union which would put the first Briton into space.
As I listened to the advert I realised that a job which combined learning a foreign language and doing physical training with science work was a dream come true. The chance to fly into space and feel weightless made it even better and I applied.

What was it like to be in space?

Floating about feeling weightless is something I hope never to forget. We’d experienced it a few times during training in a huge cargo aeroplane (an Ilyushin 76) but each time lasted only 23 seconds and that’s not even long enough to put on a space suit. After the launch, I felt weightless for eight days and it was the most natural, relaxing feeling I can think of.

Feeling weightless is not so comfortable at first, though. Our bodies are used gravity pulling body fluids downward and our hearts pump against gravity to maintain blood pressure in our brains so we don’t faint. Feeling weightless, there’s nothing to pull blood and other fluids ‘down’ but the heart initially keeps on pumping as it did before. Gradually, more fluid than normal ‘rises’ towards an astronaut’s head. It feels as though you’ve been upside down for a while on Earth, making your head uncomfortable and your nose feel a bit blocked.

Over a couple of days, astronauts’ bodies lose about two extra litres of water, mostly as urine, as their bodies adjust to feeling weightless. Then it feels fine, though of course the chemistry of the body is altered and there’s always landing back on Earth to consider.

Just letting my body relax, my knees bent slightly, my torso moved backwards and my arms floated out in front of me with my hands almost level with my shoulders. The modules of the Space Station were narrow so major gymnastics were not possible but I could twist round using ropes along the walls and continue to somersault freely. I could push off from the end of one module and float gently and freely along it to the other end. I forgot what it is like to sit down and to stand up.

The other main aspects of being in space for me were the close friendships that I built with my crew and looking out of the window. At the end of the day, we would gather round a window and watch the Earth spinning below us as we orbited the Earth. We thought of our friends and families back on Earth, we spotted countries we had visited and made plans to visit others, and we spoke of the beauty of sunset over oceans speckled with clouds.

What did the Earth look like from space?

I was in near Earth orbit, about 400 km above the surface of the Earth. From here I could see that the Earth is curved and I could see the whole of Western Europe in one glimpse, though I could not see the entire Earth as a globe in the distance as people could from the Moon.

The overall impression is of a strong mid blue colour, there being so much water on the Earth’s surface and in the atmosphere. The gorgeous blue seas are speckled with brilliant white clouds so bright that it hurt my eyes to look at them for long. I could see swirls of plankton in the oceans and long, straight roads running across sandy deserts (anything long and straight stands out against nature’s curves – condensation trails of aircraft, wakes of ships, a distinct change of water colour from one side of a dam to another depending which and how many particulates are in suspension). I especially remember seeing the Earth at night, when towns and cities are marked by the light they emit.
Sunrise was a real treat, with the Earth’s thin atmosphere being lit in a blue arc as the light from the Sun streamed through it.

So space helps us understand the Earth better?

Earth observation satellites and astronauts examining Earth while in space can provide information about what is happening on the Earth’s surface, just below the surface and in the atmosphere. For example, we can calculate changes in ice cover over time, check out the type of vegetation growing in far flung places and even assess the salt concentration in an area of dry land.

Satellites have given us detailed information about ozone in the atmosphere and the temperature of land and sea. We can follow ocean currents as they move around the Earth, monitor and forecast the weather and analyse volcanoes for evidence of imminent eruptions.

Studying Solar and cosmic radiation gives us an idea of what has been hitting the Earth for millions of years. The same goes for meteorites and comets. By studying how planets in other star systems are evolving we can gain an understanding of what happened to the Earth to make it into what it is today and what might become of the Earth in the future.
The movement of stars and planets has shaped people’s lifestyles for centuries and extrapolating what we see now back in time we can better understand the vast array of cultures that have been, and still are, in existence.

What would you say to a young person who is interested in becoming an astronaut?

There are not many vacancies for astronauts and when an astronaut selection is announced, the selectors are usually looking for people with specific qualifications and experience, like astronomy or medicine for instance. However, some people have become astronauts by setting out their careers with space as their goal. Others, like me, took an opportunity that they hadn’t previously considered.

You stand a far greater chance of being an astronaut if you study science-based subjects so my advice to anyone who is interested in becoming an astronaut is to study as much science as possible at school, to aim for a university degree which is science-based and enjoyable (if you don’t like a subject it is very difficult to do well in it) and to do other things with life as well (who wants to be on a space mission with a brilliant but really boring team member?).
Above all, always have a back-up plan so that you may have a successful career even if the astronauting doesn’t work out. A good astronaut always has back-up plans for anything important.