First British astronaut to orbit Earth reveals how her perspective changed during her eight-day mission as two astronauts remain stranded at the ISS

Helen Sharman, the first British astronaut to go into space, has told how her eight-day space flight in May 1991 taught her what really matters in life.

The 61-year-old Sheffield woman said her perspective changed dramatically, with ‘material things’ becoming almost irrelevant compared to ‘the value of people and human relationships.’

Helen spoke about her experiences in space on ITV’s This Morning programme on Friday.

Her appearance follows news that Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, the two NASA astronauts currently stranded on the International Space Station due to a spacecraft malfunction, may not return to Earth until February 2025.

Helen, who was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1992 Birthday Honours, compared the change in mindset she experienced while in space to the change in perspective many people experience after a holiday abroad.

She said: ‘I think everyone has a certain thought process, even when you go on holiday to other parts of the world.

‘When you look back on the life you left behind, you get a different perspective, right?

‘You almost look at it with different eyes, and I saw that in space too.’

The chemist and astronaut, who was 27 when she went into space, recounted how she and her crewmates on the Soyuz TM-12 mission, which launched on May 18, 1991, “talked about our families and friends that we left behind” during the mission.

She added: ‘I realised that in space I hadn’t thought about all those material things – the physical things that we so desperately want to own and show off.

“That really put material things into perspective compared to the value of people and human relationships.”

This Morning presenters Josie Gibson and Craig Doyle were delighted to have Helen on the show, describing her as ‘an impressive person’.

Josie added that she would like to have dinner with the astronaut sometime.

Helen, who was only 27 when she went into space in May 1991, told how material things became almost irrelevant while she was in orbit

Helen was invited on the show to explain why the NASA astronauts currently stuck in space cannot return to Earth.

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore’s mission, which launched in early June, was scheduled to last eight days, but the pair were unable to return due to a problem with the thrusters on their Boeing Starliner spacecraft.

The two astronauts have now been told they may not be able to return to Earth until February 2025.

Regarding the malfunctioning spacecraft, Helen explained: “Upon arrival at the International Space Station “There were some problems with the thrusters – those little rocket engines on the back – that actually fly the plane.”

Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore (pictured) are currently stuck on the International Space Station due to a malfunction in their spacecraft.

She added that the problem cannot really be solved and described NASA’s position on bringing the astronauts home as “very risk-averse” following the 2003 tragedy in which the Columbia spacecraft broke up in the atmosphere on its return journey to Earth, killing all seven crew members.

Helen explained that NASA has alternative ways of getting the astronauts back and therefore they don’t want to risk them returning home in a spaceship that they don’t know will get them home safely.

However, she assured viewers that the astronauts had access to “a very, very good food supply” on the International Space Station, explaining that there is “typically enough food for four months.”

“They generate their own oxygen on the International Space Station and they recycle most of their own water, with the occasional little bit of extra water from Earth,” she said.

Helen added that a likely scenario is that Sunni and Butch will return in February on a Space X spacecraft. She suggested that it would leave with a crew of two rather than four, to allow room for the two stranded astronauts.