It was a meeting with the first Briton in space, Dr Helen Sharman, that changed the course of Sophie Harker’s life forever. A maths student at The University of Nottingham, she took this advice seriously and went on to become an aerodynamics and performance engineer at BAE Systems. Although she is yet to leave planet earth, Sophie has been working on designs for a revolutionary new aircraft designed to take off from a runway and enter space in a single stage. Project such as this are just part of the story, and Sophie is working hard to ensure that when the European Space Agency put out their next call for astronauts, she is ready, and with thousands of applicants for every seat, competition will be fierce.

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Sophie Harker, aerodynamics and performance engineer, BAE Systems and The IET Young Woman Engineer of the Year 2018