Just to be clear: Michael Foale was not the first British astronaut (that was Helen Sharman) but he was the first British person to walk in space.
He wasn't all that British either. He was born in Lincolnshire, in 1957, with dual UK–US citizenship – his mother was American. After gaining a post–graduate doctorate in 1982 he worked for McDonnell Douglas on Space Shuttle navigation problems, and he joined NASA as a Payload Officer in 1983. He flew six space shuttle missions, and nine space missions altogether; it was during the 20 weeks that he spent on the Soviet/Russian space station Mir, in 1997, that he became the first Briton to walk in space.
His first mission had been on the space shuttle Atlantis (launched 24 March 1992), and his last was on a Soyuz spacecraft (launched 18 October 2003). Until 2008 he held the record for the most time spent in space by a US citizen: 374 days, 11 hours, 19 minutes.
In fairness, being born in Britain with one British parent (and having lived in Britain up to the age of 26) he is probably more British than American. But you can't tell me that his US citizenship wasn't a factor in his getting the job with NASA and being selected for all those space missions.
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