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Two physicists from the University of Leicester are setting their sights on becoming one of Britain’s first astronauts.
Tracey Dickens, an astrophysicist who heads Space School UK and who is outreach officer in the world-renowned Department of Physics and Astronomy, will this month apply for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) first astronaut recruitment programme since 1992. She will be vying with former Leicester PhD student, Gail Iles, who now works in France at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility / Institute Laue Langevin, and who has the same dream. If either of them make it past the recruitment stages she will become Britain’s first official astronaut. There have been four previous British-born people in space, including Helen Sharman, but they all either had to become US citizens or get private funding. Twenty-nine-year-old Tracey said she has been passionate about space all of her life – ever since reading children’s books about space: “I have goosebumps whenever anything to do with space comes on the television or they show footage of the shuttle. I keep saying to myself 'I am going to be an astronaut and nothing's going to stop me. "When I said I wanted to apply to university to do astrophysics, my physics teacher said he didn't think I was capable. But I didn't think for a moment about giving up. "The turning point was going to the library and finding out from the News Round book of space that Space Camp actually existed -not just in a movie. "Nobody ever laughed about my ambition. Recently, when I regained contact with old friends on Facebook, the first thing they all said was 'Do you still want to be an astronaut?'. "I'm really excited. Whenever I think about it I get such a buzz. If there was a British astronaut, particularly if they were female, then it would open up a whole new world to the British public. "Britain already has a space programme, but hardly anyone knows about it because it has mainly been satellites, but this could change all that." Gail Iles, 33, graduated from Leicester in 2007 with a PhD in nanotechnology studies, working within the Condensed Matter Physics Group. Her research centred on how magnetic clusters of iron behave with rare earth metals and in different gases. Now she holds a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Grenoble, working for the European Space Agency jointly at the ESRF and ILL. The IMPRESS project, managed from ESTEC, is a materials science pan-European project within the EC’s FP6 programme. “Within this project I use synchrotron radiation and the most intense neutron source in the world to characterise the two intermetallics; NiAl and TiAl that are produced and investigated both on earth and in microgravity environments,” she explained. “Combining materials science with the space agency means we have access to drop towers, parabolic flights, sounding rockets and now the International Space Station (ISS).” Working in space has long been an ambition of Gail’s. “I have dedicated my entire life to becoming an astronaut by staying fit, studying hard and presenting myself with difficult challenges. Performing science in space is a challenge. Not only do you need the equipment to work properly but you depend on yourself to be physically and mentally strong enough to cope in a stressful environment. “During last year’s parabolic flight campaign we flew a Ni evaporation source on board the A300. Whilst people were being ill around me I carried on operating our experiment and ensuring we got the samples we needed. “My PhD at Leicester prepared me well for operating this vacuum chamber. As an experimentalist you learn many skills and these will be of good use on board the ISS and when using the scientific racks on the ESA Columbus laboratory. Leicester was my only choice for my doctorate studies because of its proven excellence in physics and space studies. “I’m applying to become an astronaut because I would like to operate the Materials Science Rack on the ISS and to help build the first moonbase when humans make their lunar landings in 2020”. It will not be an easy path to space for either Gail or Tracey, however. Thousands are expected to apply for four vacancies. Previous astronaut recruitment drives saw a few female applicants. They will have to go through two stages of psychological and professional tests and a medical evaluation. Then comes a formal interview, before the final appointments are announced next year. Professor Martin Barstow, head of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Leicester, said: "I think we will have lots of people applying and we are certainly keen to promote that idea. "I'm very supportive to anybody that applies. I wish I was younger and could do so myself." Ideal applicants are aged between 27 and 37, fit, have a science degree and have some flying experience. The successful candidates will have five years of training before space missions. The new talent will bolster ESA’s astronaut corps for future missions to the International Space Station, the Moon and beyond. European astronauts are already working aboard the International Space Station (ISS), starting operations on the Columbus laboratory and benefiting from the new Automated Transport Vehicle (ATV) and the cargo that it carries. ESA is now looking toward further exploration of the solar system and a new generation of explorers is required to make this vision a reality. |
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