HAWARDEN'S Good Life Experience has announced a truly star-studded name is joining its line up of speakers with British astronaut Helen Sharman confirmed to appear at the September festival.

Sharman became the first ever UK astronaut in May 1991 when she launched on a Soyuz spacecraft to spend eight days orbiting the Earth, most of that time on the Mir Space Station.

After the Soviet Space Agency reached an agreement with a company set up to manage the British Mission, Helen was one of two Britons selected for astronaut training out of almost 13,000 applicants. The programme, named Project Juno, was a co-operative arrangement and would enable Britain to send one of its people into space for the first time.

After her return from space, Sharman has spent many years communicating science and its benefits by speaking, presenting on radio and television and by organising science events for the public. More recently, she has worked as a manager at the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington and at Kingston University London. Currently, Helen is the Operations Manager for the Chemistry Department at Imperial College London.

A spokesperson for the festival, said: "Helen Sharman is a pioneer, a role model, and a truly inspirational speaker.

"She was selected from over 13,000 applicants after hearing an advert on the radio on her way home after work. Two people were chosen for the rigorous training but only one – Helen – went into space.

"Helen will speak at The Good Life Experience 2019 about Space, STEM and the wonders of science. She will speak on the meticulous training and preparation, learning Russian, launch and landing, how weightlessness feels, her science experiments, the team spirit, and readjusting to life on Earth."

Also joining the line up is the former Director General of MI5, Dame Stella Rimmington. Appointed in 1992, Stella Rimington was the first woman to take the post and the first Director General to be publicly named in the Government’s new spirit of openness. She retired in April 1996, since when she has become a successful novelist.

For more information and to buy tickets for The Good Life Experience 2019, go to: www..thegoodlifeexperience.co.uk