Astronaut Kathy hits lowest spot
BY CHRIS BUCKTIN THE first American woman to walk in space has become the first woman to dive to the deepest known spot on Earth.
Kathy Sullivan, 68, who reached a depth of 35,810ft, known as Challenger Deep, is only the eighth person to complete the feat.
She was joined in the western Pacific Ocean by Victor Vescovo, an explorer funding the mission.
They spent about an hour-and-a-half 6.78 miles down in the Mariana Trench, 200 miles southwest of Guam.
Sullivan said: “As a hybrid oceanographer and astronaut, this was an extraordinary day, a oncein-a-lifetime day.”
After joining NASA in 1978 , she became the first US woman to walk in space on October 11, 1984,
BY ASHLEIGH RAINBIRD RUTH Langsford considered quitting TV following the death of her sister Julia last year, she has admitted. The This Morning presenter said: “It seemed wrong to be cheery on screen, when, inside, my heart was breaking.” Ruth credits husband Eamonn Holmes with making her realise she had “so much to live for in Julia’s memory”. Julia, who Ruth described as “the kindest, most helpful, gentle soul you could ever meet”, sadly took her own life in June at the age of 62 after a long battle with depression. In the aftermath, Ruth, 60, felt “no motivation or desire” to be in the public eye. For the first month, Eamonn comforted his grieving wife as she would “cry, scream and sob”, Ruth told Best magazine. He then sat her down for a “soft but strong” talk to encourage her to live her life and resume her career as a tribute to her sister. Ruth said: “Eamonn pointed
MUCH LOVED Ruth & Julia out that he was, in effect, losing not one, but two of the most precious people in his life – Julia and me.
“He showed me how I had so much to live for in Julia’s memory – and beyond.”
Julia lost her battle with depression last year. Eamonn, 60, begged Ruth not to let the illness triumph over her, too.
She said: “He pleaded with me not to let it win, by ruining everything I had achieved – and still had to celebrate.”
One of Ruth’s first TV appearances after Eamonn’s words of encouragement was on ITV’s Play Your Cards Right, alongside her husband.
The episode, which aired earlier this month, saw Ruth become emotional as she won the top prize of £33,000 for Alzheimer’s Society, of which she is an ambassador. She said it was a win for her late dad, Dennis, who had Alzheimer’s for 17 years before he died in 2012, aged 85.
Eamonn said he was “proud of her for all she does in the fight against this cruel disease”. Ruth thanked her “darling” husband “for always being by my side”.
The full interview is in this week’s Best magazine, out now.
RUTH LANGSFORD ON HUSBAND’S SUPPORT