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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To point out that, exciting as Tim Peake's trip to the space station is......

66 replies

BertrandRussell · 15/12/2015 10:18

.....he is not the first British astronaut, and I can't remember anything like this hype when she made her trip?

To point out that, exciting as Tim Peake's trip to the space station is......
OP posts:
Doublebubblebubble · 15/12/2015 10:21

Well she is a woman and thusly unimportant to the media....

Good luck to Tim though 11:03 I think x hope all goes well x

Rattner · 15/12/2015 10:21

He's the first Briton to serve on the I.S.S. I think that's why it's a big deal Smile

BooyakaTurkeyisMassive · 15/12/2015 10:33

There was a huge amount of hype when she went into space. Massive. She gave a talk at my school in London at the time and it was very exciting. There was far more publicity than there is for the current guy.

I live in Sharman's home city now, and they are amazingly proud of her.

EastMidsMummy · 15/12/2015 10:38

The difference is, he is on a British funded mission. She was on a privately funded mission. She was the first Briton in space. He is the first official "British astronaut".

(You're right in one way: there was NOTHING on Twitter about Helen Sharman back then...)

RedToothBrush · 15/12/2015 10:46

YABU

What the heck are you on about?!

There was LOADS of coverage of Helen Sharman at the time! Much more than Tim Peake is getting.

And why does it have to be a competition? We should be celebrating ANY astronaut we have as we don't get many.

I'm glad that the BBC have decided to cover the lauch live

RedToothBrush · 15/12/2015 10:52

Oh and part of the remit of ISS astronauts is education and dealing with the media. Its supposed to encourage science and technology as well as international cooperation and diplomacy.

Its GREAT to have something POSITIVE on our news for once grabbing headlines.

SoupDragon · 15/12/2015 10:56

There is far more hype about everything than there was 24 years ago.

PatriciaHolm · 15/12/2015 10:56

Blimey, she was everywhere at the time! Definitely equal media coverage, allowing for the fact that in 1991 we didn't have wall to wall 24 hours online news.

EnaSharplesHairnet · 15/12/2015 10:57

Helen Sharman was big news.

Despite today's excitement, when this is over I think I will forget Tim's name quite quickly.

Holstein · 15/12/2015 10:58

Yes, I was a bit Hmm at the Today programme this morning.

CordeliaFrost · 15/12/2015 10:58

Helen Sharman was the first Briton in space, but it was on a privately funded mission.

Previous British-born astronauts, like Michael Foale, also had US citizenship and that's why they got to be astronauts.

Tim Peake is the first official British astronaut, because he's on a space agency funded mission, and he hasn't had to have dual citizenship.

NB: All their achievements are fantastic.

RedToothBrush · 15/12/2015 11:01

Why do we have to be so British and piss on someone's chips at moments of national pride?

Drew64 · 15/12/2015 11:06

There was no internet back then

WhoTheFuckIsSimon · 15/12/2015 11:08

Helen Sharman was major big news. Blue peter and news round were full of it for weeks.

MojitoMollie · 15/12/2015 11:10

i was watching the launch on the BBC site and it clearly talks about Helen... I think YABU

Enjolrass · 15/12/2015 11:11

There was loads of hype and we spent loads of time at school stalking about it when she went.

It was also all over the papers and news with updates.

Technology and media have changed so it's much more visual. You can see in the capsule etc.

There was Internet. No all day news channels etc.

It's also different as its the ISS.

DrDreReturns · 15/12/2015 11:12

I was 14 in 1991 and I remember her going into space very clearly. It was a very big news story. There wasn't 24 hour news / internet coverage back then so you can't really directly compare the coverage the two stories have received directly. But you can't pretend it wasn't a big thing back then.
So I think YABU.

DrDreReturns · 15/12/2015 11:13

Sorry about the garbled sentence.

Drew64 · 15/12/2015 11:13

Aren't the ISS and MIR the same thing? MIR with an extension?

Enjolrass · 15/12/2015 11:13

She has also been on the news quite a bit this week.

HaplessHousewife · 15/12/2015 11:18

No MIR was brought back down and mostly burnt up on re-entry. Some fragments remained and landed in the sea somewhere.

TeaStory · 15/12/2015 11:19

Aren't the ISS and MIR the same thing? MIR with an extension?

No.

Drew64 · 15/12/2015 11:20

HaplessHousewife

Thank you, I've learnt something new today

EnaSharplesHairnet · 15/12/2015 11:20

I keep referring to Mir - didn't it mean Mother in Russian?
Just read on-line that Mir is no more and it was succeeded by the ISS, a joint US and Russian project.

RedToothBrush · 15/12/2015 11:21

MIR was a completely different thing. MIR was Russian in origin and no longer exists. It deorbited and broke up over the South Pacific in 2001.

ISS is its successor and is run by 5 space agencies.

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