Talk:Helen Sharman

Lottery?

I'm a little confused over whether or not she got to go to space via lottery, and what that means. Several of the articles I've seen mention some sort of "lottery," but I can't seem to find what that actually entailed, or whether it was more of a competition. --NeuronExMachina 17:28, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

• There was no lottery. The lottery was a device to fund the flight, not to select the astronaut.Hektor 21:21, 26 August 2006 (UTC)
• It keeps getting mentioned in the media, most recently an AP article about the landing of Anousheh Ansari. [1] She bested a pilot, a doctor, and an aerospace engineer! I guess you can live with that sort of thing, because you did get to go to space ...--Dhartung | Talk 05:33, 29 September 2006 (UTC)
  • The selection process is described in her book, Seize the moment, which is by the way quite interesting. There was no lottery involved. In fact 13,000 people called for information, but only 5,500 indeed filled the form of application. Then there were physical and psychological downselects which brought the pool to 30, and finally to 4. The four were sent to Moscow and downselected to two.Hektor 06:53, 14 October 2006 (UTC)

Picture

It is such a shame that this article does not have a photo of Helen Sharman. Can someone add it? - Pernambuco 03:29, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

As long as it isn't the Spacefacts.de photo, which we don't have permission to use. --Dhartung | Talk 06:37, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

I could scan a cover of Spaceflight or of her book, but I am sure immediately someone would say it is not allowed.Hektor 21:57, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Spaceflight magazine would be fair use in an article about the magazine or, failing that, British Interplanetary Society. The cover of her book, however, is fair use if Helen Sharman is the only article covering the book. (That's my reading of WP:FAIR.) --Dhartung | Talk 04:14, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

I have put the book cover, scanning my own copy. I hope this will not be challenged. Hektor 11:28, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

What was Clarke's role in the book? Some sources list him as a third author. Was it just an introduction? --Dhartung | Talk 07:00, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

Yes a typical witty Clarke introduction, a few personnal anecdotes, a few nice words. Hektor 21:23, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Ashkenazi Jew?

Helen Sharman is listed in the article List of Ashkenazi Jews. I don't see any reference for this elsewhere - including her book, where she does not discuss religion. Hektor 11:13, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Flame lighting

I've made two or three attempts to correct the error in this article where it incorrectly states that Sharman lit the flame at the 1991 Universiade. Someone has rather sniffily reverted the edits, noting the article "conforms to known sources". Whatever sources these are, are wrong. I was a student at the time and witnessed the opening ceremony personally. Miss Sharman was indeed selected to light the flame, and was carrying the torch through the crowd towards the flame when she rather embarrassingly tripped over her own feet and dropped the torch on the floor, spilling the flammable parts on the carpet. There ensued some seconds of flapping before she was directed by an official to continue on her way with the now non-burning torch. When she reached the main torch, she simply waved the stump of her hand-torch at it, and it was lit, as it was always going to be, automatically by an electrical ignition system. The event was cringingly embarrassing for all present and certainly impossible to forget for anyone who saw it personally. Since several thousand people were present, and several hundred thousand at least saw the event on television, corroboration should not be difficult to establish. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 81.153.191.255 (talk • contribs) .

I've sourced it to a Guardian article (which says that she succeeded in lighting the flame). Really, it would not have been hard for you to do this, too. In any case "your own experience" is not a sufficient citation for Wikipedia. --Dhartung | Talk 06:36, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

Some observations: 1. The Guardian article is, therefore, also wrong. She was present, and the flame lit - that's all. She was not carrying a viable source of ignition when she reached the torch because she had dropped and smashed it. The flame was ignited, as it was apparently always going to anyway, by an electrical ignition system similar to that found on cookers. 2. I did do a search for any corroborative article, but since the Universiade occurred well before pervasive internet news, I was not able to find anything. You were. Well done you. 3. Eyewitness reports are inferior to inaccurate online sources? OK. Whatever. I will adjust my assessment of Wikipedia article accuracy accordingly in future. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 212.188.147.38 (talk • contribs).

I don't know if the Guardian article is right or wrong, but the Guardian is a published source. If you can find a reliable source that we can cite that verifies your personal observation, it may be included. But your personal observation is not verifiable, thus we cannot cite it. These policies are in place to ensure that information in Wikipedia articles is as accurate as possible. In the case of living persons, we are forbidden to put uncited negative information in articles, for legal reasons that should be obvious. Please read the policies that I have linked, as they are important to one's "assessment" of Wikipedia. --Dhartung | Talk 20:54, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Space tourist category

• Helen Sharman is in no way a space tourist and should not be categorized as such. She was a British cosmonaut-researcher of the Juno program, selected from thousands of applicants to perform a scientific program on board Mir. Hektor 08:35, 2 February 2007 (UTC)