Britain's first astronaut (or rather cosmonaut) Helen Sharman worked as a chemist for Mars. I guess she knew about the theobromine which is a vascular dilator and reduces blood pressure and increases good cholesterol, so not bad for humans but not really meant for race horses...
Helen Sharman back trip to Mars
Helen Sharman
As one of the Mir payees she garnered a lot of respect from the Russian crew, not only for her professionalism, her sense of humour, for never getting sick but also getting her science mission done. The consortium that paid for her flight paid the Russians only $1.7 million. A bargain basement price for an 8 day flight in Mir.
Arriving with the replacement crew of Artsebarski and Sergei Krikalev for a 1-week visit was Helen Sharman, the first British citizen to fly in space and the first woman to occupy Mir. Her flight had originally been an arrangement between Glavkosmos and a British business consortium. They would pay Glavkosmos for the ticket from money earned from the publicity, research, and entertainment produced by the first space flight of an ordinary British citizen. Sharman herself was probably the least likely person to fly in space. Twenty-six years old, she had been a chemist working at a giant candy company where she helped design the equipment that produced candy bars. When one day, coming home from work, she heard the radio broadcast announcing that the consortium was looking for applicants to fly to Mir, she scribbled the phone number on a gas receipt. “It was a distracting and intriguing thought: by [the consortium’s] fairly broad criteria . . . I was already . . . in a particular segment of the population any of whose members could become an astronaut.”
Sharman’s eight days in space were far from unique. She was offered bread and salt upon arrival. She experienced no space sickness. She talked with school children by ham radio. She did some science experiments. And to entertain herself and the men on Mir on her second night on board, she put on a ridiculous-looking, pink, frilly jumpsuit given to her by retired cosmonaut Alexei Leonov just before launch. “I got one of the ladies at the hotel to make it up for you.” Leonov said, his sweet round face lighting up in an infectious grin. “Just for fun.” To her delight, her crewmate Krikalev responded by digging out a tie that he had smuggled aboard so that he could dress “formally” as well. The tie, of course, refused to hang down; instead it floated straight out throughout the evening.
During her mission Mir began showing its first signs of age. Several times the computer system that oriented the station and its solar panels shut down, preventing the panels from producing electrical power from sunlight. Alarms rang, lights dimmed, and ventilation fans turned off as the station’s systems automatically acted to preserve its limited battery power. Though at no point were they in any danger, each time the crew scrambled to reboot the computer and regain control of the station. After a few hours, when the sun had recharged the batteries, things went back to normal.
Curiously, Sharman’s mission once again demonstrated the difficulties the Soviets were having in establishing their space program as a viable and profitable business. The original deal had called for a British consortium to pay between $4 million and $17 million for an eight-day flight. Instead, the British partners dropped out, and other monies never appeared. Negotiations in 1990 and early negotiations with various television companies went nowhere because media interest was instead focused on the Persian Gulf War. Covering the launch of a British cosmonaut seemed less newsworthy. Rather than cancel Sharman’s mission entirely and face the bad publicity that might ensue, Energia decided to send her up anyway, use her as a guinea pig to study medicine in space, and hope her flight would produce enough goodwill and positive public relations that other customers would soon follow. Though it was unclear where the money came from, Energia announced after the flight that the revenues from Sharman’s flight totaled about $1.7 million.
Zimmerman, Robert. Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel . NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS. Kindle Edition. 1991
Wouldn't it be nice to get someone like Helen Sharman as an ops-normal member!