I lived at Star City for more than a year ahead of my trip to Mir on May 18, 1991 in Soyuz TM-12. My life at Star City was so remote that learning Russian became my greatest priority.

I get standing ovations at meetings when I say Britain should be involved in human spaceflight. Unfortunately, that goal has been blocked by a handful of people in high office.

I operated a periscopic TV camera so the commander, Anatoly Artsebarsky, could establish where we were heading. It is real teamwork on Soyuz.

There is good science you can do in space. There is stuff there you cannot do on Earth and we can gain understanding from it.

The only thing that I travel with is an Ole Henriksen facial cleanser, something that my skin is used to avoid using different soaps at different hotels all the time, and Givenchy Man Pro-Energizing Massive Moisturizer. I usually keep my hair pretty short, too, so I don't require a lot of stuff.

I have a character failing. I am quite incapable of identifying with anything whole-heartedly. Whatever I am doing, I am always planning to do something else. I would rather travel than arrive.

In America there are two classes of travel - first class, and with children.

As much as most of the actors were kind of curious to know what their character meant in relation to the script and to the plot, they really were quite happy to be part of the adventure of not knowing.