Rosemary Coogan, European Space Agency’s second UK recruit, will be deployed to ISS for six months

She beat a field of more than 22,000 candidates and has a PhD in astrophysics and a background as a Royal Navy reserve, but the newly qualified British astronaut Rosemary Coogan believes that in future space travel should not be restricted to elites.

Coogan, 33, from Belfast, who is the European Space Agency’s (Esa) second British recruit, believes we are entering a revolutionary period of space exploration that will lead not only to the return of humans to the moon but also journeys to Mars and beyond.