When I saw "Crack Army" I thought "as opposed to the Meth Army or the Smack Army?"
Crack Army pilot to be first PROPER British astronaut IN SPAAAACE
Ex-Apache helicopter pilot Tim Peake will become the first bona fide British astronaut in space - and live and work on the International Space Station. Tim Peake training in a Soyuz simulator Peake performance ... Tim trains in a Soyuz simulator (Credit: ESA) The former army major, and a serving member of the European …
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Monday 20th May 2013 14:23 GMT Anonymous Coward
Re: why
I think because her flight was as part of a private enterprise that sought some volunteers, performed some selection based on physical and academic qualifications and then paid the USSR for the launch and visit to Mir - so essentially she was a passenger. Whereas Tim Peake is a member of the ESA astronaut corps so it is his profession and he is expected to be able to carry out any astronaut-y activities including e.g. space walks.
But, yeah, there's probably a bit of official vs. unofficial, amateur vs. professional or private vs. public snobbishness going on too!
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Monday 20th May 2013 14:32 GMT John Smith 19
He'll be the first British 'naut to fly under a *British* flag
Ms Sharman was sponsored under the private "Juno" project, which (I did not know) was a private effort in the early 1990's
Tim Peake will be flying as the representative of the UK Space Agency (which did not even exist when Ms Shaman flew).
Prior to him other Brits have flown having taken US citizenship.
So the first of( hopefully not) "The few."
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