British academics have made some of the most important discoveries in the history of space. And in Sir Isaac Newton, we have produced perhaps the most important scientist of all time.
The UK has also been responsible for much of the groundbreaking technology used in today's missions, and many of the experiments on them.
However, because we don't currently help to fund manned missions, only three people born in the UK have actually been into space. And two of those are American citizens.
Nicholas Patrick
Like Foale and Sellers before him, Nicholas Patrick is an astronaut with dual American citizenship. He was born in North Yorkshire in 1964, but grew up in London.
After receiving a degree in Engineering at Cambridge, he moved to America and worked for four years in the Aircraft Engine Division of General Electric in Boston. Patrick then completed a Master's and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, before joining Boeing's Commercial Airplane Group in Seattle.
He became a US citizen in 1994 and was selected by NASA for astronaut training four years later. His first space shuttle flight was the Discovery STS-116 mission in December 2006.
Piers Sellers
Born in Sussex in 1955, Piers Sellers completed a degree in Ecological Science at Edinburgh University before being awarded a doctorate in Biometeorology from Leeds University.
After moving to America in 1982, Piers applied to become an astronaut. But, like Micheal Foale, he first needed to secure American citizenship. He received this in 1991 and was finally selected as a NASA astronaut five years later. In 1992 he joined the crew of STS-112, making him the third Briton in space. During this mission he helped install the third piece of the International Space Station structure.
In July 2006, Piers returned to space onboard the STS-121.
Michael Foale
C. Michael Foale was born in 1957. He received a doctorate in Astrophysics from Cambridge in 1982, before joining NASA the following year as part of the Mission Operations division.
Foale applied for, and was granted, dual citizenship, before being selected as an astronaut candidate in 1987. He became the first British man in space when he was chosen for NASA's STS-45 mission in 1992.
In 1997 he spent four months on Mir, during which he became the first Briton to conduct a space walk, inspecting exterior damage to the space station. And in 1999, as part of the crew for STS-103, he took part in an eight-hour space walk to replace components on the Hubble telescope. Foale was named Commander of the International Space Station in 2003. Foale is the current US record holder for most cumulative time spent in space having logged 374 days, 11 hours and 19 minutes in space.
Michael Foale was awarded a CBE in the 2005 New Year Honours list.
He is currently Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Operations at NASA headquarters.
Helen Sharman
Born in 1963, Helen graduated from Sheffield University with a degree in Chemistry.
After working as an engineer for GEC, she became a research technologist for Mars - the chocolate bar not the planet!
In 1989, as Helen was driving home from work, she heard on the radio that a British astronaut was needed for a Soviet space mission travelling to the Mir Space Station. No experience was needed, but applicants had to have a science background and the ability to learn a foreign language.
After beating off stiff competition from more than 13,000 hopefuls, Helen was chosen to be the UK cosmonaut on Project Juno. And in May 1991 she became the first Briton in space - spending eight days conducting scientific experiments at the Mir Space Station.
Since her return, Helen has become one of the country's leading ambassadors for science, giving lectures around the world. She was awarded the OBE in 1992 and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Royal Aeronautical Society and the British Interplanetary Society.
