ASTRONAUTS from United Kingdom

Top 6

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary British Astronauts of all time. This list of famous British Astronauts is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Piers Sellers (1955 - 2016)

With an HPI of 45.26, Piers Sellers is the most famous British Astronaut.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages on wikipedia.

Piers John Sellers (11 April 1955 – 23 December 2016) was a British-American meteorologist, NASA astronaut and Director of the Earth Science Division at NASA/GSFC. He was a veteran of three Space Shuttle missions. Sellers attended Cranbrook School, Cranbrook, Kent, United Kingdom, until 1973, and achieved a bachelor's degree in ecological science from the University of Edinburgh in 1976. In 1981 he gained a doctorate in biometeorology from the University of Leeds. In 2011, Sellers retired from the NASA Astronaut Corps. Before joining the astronaut corps, Sellers worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on research into how the Earth's biosphere and atmosphere interact. This work involved climate system computer modelling and field work utilising aircraft, satellites and ground support input.

2. Michael Foale (b. 1957)

With an HPI of 39.31, Michael Foale is the 2nd most famous British Astronaut.  His biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Colin Michael Foale (; born 6 January 1957) is a British-American astrophysicist and a former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six space missions, and is the only NASA astronaut to have flown extended missions aboard both Mir and the International Space Station. He was the second Briton in space and the first to perform a space walk. Until 17 April 2008, he held the record for most time spent in space by a US citizen: 374 days, 11 hours, 19 minutes, and as of 2024 he held the cumulative-time-in-space record for a British citizen.

3. Helen Sharman (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 38.17, Helen Sharman is the 3rd most famous British Astronaut.  Her biography has been translated into 38 different languages.

Helen Patricia Sharman (born 30 May 1963) is a British chemist and cosmonaut who became the first British person, first Western European woman and first privately funded woman in space, as well as the first woman to visit the Mir space station, in May 1991.

4. Gregory H. Johnson (b. 1962)

With an HPI of 32.40, Gregory H. Johnson is the 4th most famous British Astronaut.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Gregory Harold "Box" Johnson (born May 12, 1962) is a former NASA astronaut and a retired colonel in the United States Air Force. Johnson is a veteran of two space flights, STS-123 and STS-134. He served as pilot on his first mission, which delivered the Kibo logistics module and the Dextre robot arm to the International Space Station. Johnson was also assigned as the pilot to the STS-134 mission, which launched on May 16, 2011, and landed on June 1, 2011. Greg Johnson has also served in numerous roles for NASA including as a Capcom for several missions. Gregory H. Johnson (Colonel, USAF, Ret.) was the President and executive director for the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) until March 10, 2018. He is now working with Lockheed Martin.

5. Tim Peake (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 29.48, Tim Peake is the 5th most famous British Astronaut.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Major Timothy Nigel Peake (born 7 April 1972) is a retired British European Space Agency astronaut, Army Air Corps officer and author. He is the first British ESA astronaut, the second astronaut to bear a flag of the United Kingdom patch (following Helen Sharman), the sixth person born in the United Kingdom to go on board the International Space Station, and the seventh UK-born person in space. He began the ESA's intensive astronaut basic training course in September 2009 and graduated on 22 November 2010.

6. Nicholas Patrick (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 29.08, Nicholas Patrick is the 6th most famous British Astronaut.  His biography has been translated into 23 different languages.

Nicholas James MacDonald Patrick (born 19 November 1964), is a British-American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. His flight on the 2006 Discovery STS-116 mission made him the fourth person born in the United Kingdom to go into space.