British space programme

The British space programme is a plan by the UK government and other interested bodies to promote British participation in the international market for satellite launches, satellite construction and other space endeavours. Significantly, however, it has never been government policy to create a British astronaut corps or to place a Briton on the Moon. Instead the focus has been on unmanned satellite launches. The UK government does not fund the International Space Station. Recently, the British government has changed this lack of emphasis on manned launches.^{[citation needed]} The government has also begun backing an SSTO spaceplane concept called Skylon (spacecraft).

Origin of the space programme

Scientific interest in space travel existed in the United Kingdom prior to the Second World War, particularly amongst members of the British Interplanetary Society (founded in 1933) whose members included Sir Arthur C. Clarke, author and conceiver of the geostationary telecommunications satellite, who joined the BIS after World War II.

As with the other post-war space-faring nations, the British government's interest in space was primarily military. Early programmes reflected this interest. As with other nations, much of the rocketry knowledge was obtained from captured German scientists who were persuaded to work for the British. The British conducted the earliest post-war tests of captured V-2 rockets in Operation Backfire, less than six months after the end of the war in Europe.

Initial work was done on smaller air to surface missiles such as Blue Steel before progress was made towards launches of larger orbit-capable rockets.

British launches

Britain has launched several rockets and satellites. The Ariel programme developed 6 satellites between 1962 and 1979, all of which were launched by NASA. Development of a British launch system to carry a nuclear device took place from 1950 onwards, both in the United Kingdom and at Woomera in Australia. Falstaff, a British hypersonic test rocket, was launched from Woomera between 1969 and 1979.

Rockets were tested on the Isle of Wight and both tested and launched from Woomera. These included the Black Knight and Blue Streak rockets and the Black Arrow, a satellite launching rocket based on the Black Knight rocket. Black Arrow (R3) launched Prospero X-3, the only British satellite to be launched using an all-British rocket. Communication with the satellite was terminated in 1996.

Cancellation of the original government programme and formation of British National Space Centre

The official British government programme of UK satellite launches was cancelled in the early 1970s.^{[citation needed]} However, UK participation in space continues through working with other space agencies. In 1985 the British National Space Centre (BNSC) was formed to coordinate modern UK space activities, however since 1986 the UK government has had a policy against human space flight.

British contribution to other nations' space programmes

Communication and tracking of rockets and satellites in orbit is achieved using stations such as Jodrell Bank. During the Space Race, Jodrell Bank and other stations were used to communicate with several satellites and probes including Sputnik and Pioneer 5.^{[citation needed]}

As well as providing tracking facilities for other nations, scientists from the United Kingdom have participated in other nation's space programmes,^{[citation needed]} notably contributing to the development of NASA's early space programs, co-operation with Australian launches.^{[citation needed]} Private UK citizens banded together and partially funded Project Juno which launched British astronaut, Helen Sharman OBE on Soyuz TM-12, with the remainder of the financial support coming from the USSR.^{[citation needed]} Through the British National Space Centre the British government provides 17.4% of the European Space Agency's funding for mandatory projects, however this does not fund the International Space Station.

Recent British space activities

A revival of the official national space programme was seen in 1982 when the British government officially backed the HOTOL project, an ambitious attempt at a re-usable space plane using air-breathing rocket engines designed by Alan Bond. Work began at British Aerospace. However, having classified the engine design as 'top secret' the government then ended funding for the project, terminating it.

In 1985, a London-based government agency was formed to co-ordinate British contributions to civil space flight, the British National Space Centre (not to be confused with the National Space Centre.)

Britain continues to contribute scientific elements to satellite launches and space projects. The recent British probe Beagle 2, sent as part of the ESA's Mars Express to study the planet Mars, was lost when it failed to respond. Beagle 2 was controlled from the National Space Centre in Leicester. The UK company Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd, considered 'The world's leading builder of micro-satellites', has built and launched over thirty satellites to date.

Interest in space continues in Britain's private sector with several British companies developing new designs for space planes for satellite launching or to cater to the new market in space tourism. Virgin Galactic, a branch of the British-based Virgin group owned by Sir Richard Branson intends to sell space flights to the general public using space planes provided by Mojave Aerospace Ventures developed from Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne. SpaceShipTwo is scheduled for the first rollout in December 2009.

2011 budget boost and reforms

The UK government is proposing reform to the 1986 Outer Space Act in several areas, including the liabilities that cover space operations, in order to enable British companies space endeavors to better compete with international competitors. There is also a proposal of GB£10,000,000 boost of capital investment that is to be matched by industry.

Reaction Engines Skylon

The British Government partnered with the ESA in 2010 to promote a single-stage to orbit spaceplane concept called Skylon. This design was pioneered by Reaction Engines Limited, a company founded by Alan Bond after HOTOL was cancelled. The Skylon spaceplane has been positively received by the British government, and the British Interplanetary Society. Pending a successful engine test in June 2011, the company will begin Phase 3 of development with the first orders expected around 2011-2013.

United Kingdom Space Agency

On 1 April 2010, the Government of the United Kingdom established the UK Space Agency, an agency responsible for the British space programme. It replaces the British National Space Centre and takes over responsibility for government policy and key budgets for space and represents the UK in all negotiations on space matters.

British astronauts

Because the UK government has never developed a manned spaceflight programme and does not contribute any funding to the manned space flight part of ESA's activities, the few British-born astronauts have launched with either the American or Russian space programmes. Despite this, on October 9, 2008, UK Science and Innovation Minister Lord Drayson spoke favourably of the idea of a British astronaut.

To date, six British-born astronauts and one non-British born UK citizen have flown in space:

Name	Birthplace	Missions	First launch Date	(Dual) Nationality	Notes
Helen Sharman	Grenoside, Sheffield, South Yorkshire	Soyuz TM-12/11	18 May 1991		First Briton in space. Was partially funded by private UK subject in Project Juno and by the USSR.
Michael Foale	Louth, Lincolnshire	STS-45 (Atlantis) STS-56 (Discovery) STS-63 (Discovery) STS-84/86 (Atlantis) STS-103 (Discovery) Soyuz TMA-3	24 March 1992	/	Stayed on both Mir and the International Space Station. On 9 February 1995, during STS-63, was the first Briton to perform an EVA. He is a US citizen through his mother.
Mark Shuttleworth	Welkom, Orange Free State, South Africa	Soyuz TM-34/33	27 April 2002	/	Self-funded "space tourist" to the International Space Station. Born a South African, he also holds UK citizenship now.
Piers Sellers	Crowborough, Sussex	STS-112 (Atlantis) STS-121 (Discovery) STS-132 (Atlantis)	7 October 2002	/	US citizen since 1991.
Nicholas Patrick	Saltburn-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire	STS-116 (Discovery) STS-130 (Endeavour)	9 December 2006	/	US citizen since 1994.
Gregory H. Johnson	South Ruislip, Middlesex	STS-123 (Endeavour) STS-134 (Endeavour)	11 March 2008	/	Born in UK to US parents.
Richard Garriott	Cambridge, Cambridgeshire	Soyuz TMA-13/12	12 October 2008	/	Self-funded "space tourist" to the International Space Station. Born in UK to US parents, son of Skylab astronaut Owen Garriott

Dr. Anthony Llewellyn (born Cardiff) was selected as a scientist-astronaut by NASA in August 1967 but resigned in September 1968 having never flown in space.

Lt-Colonel Anthony Boyle (Army) (born Kidderminster), Lt-Colonel Richard Farrimond (Army) (born Birkenhead, Cheshire), Christopher Holmes (MOD) (born London), Commander Peter Longhurst (RN) (born Staines, Middlesex), and Squadron Leader Nigel Wood (RAF) (born York) were selected in February 1984 as payload specialists for the Skynet 4 Program, which was to launch from the space shuttle. Boyle resigned from the program in July 1984 due to army commitments. Prior to the cancellation of the missions in the wake of the Challenger disaster, Wood was due to fly aboard shuttle mission STS-61-H in 1986 (with Farrimond serving as his back-up), and Longhurst was due to fly aboard shuttle mission STS-71-D in 1987 (with Holmes serving as back-up). All resigned in 1986, having not flown.

Major Timothy Mace (Army Air Corps) (born Catterick, Yorkshire) served as back-up to Helen Sharman for the Soyuz TM-12/Project Juno mission in 1991. He resigned in 1991, having not flown.

On May 20, 2009, the European Space Agency announced that Major Timothy Peake, a test pilot in the Army Air Corps who hails from Chichester, West Sussex, had been accepted into the European Astronaut Corps.

British space programme in fiction

Works of science fiction have often described a United Kingdom with an ambitious space programme of its own. Notable fictional depictions of British spacecraft or Britons in space include:

• "How We Went to Mars" by Sir Arthur C. Clarke (Amateur Science Fiction Stories March 1938)
• Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future (comics, 1950–1967, 1980s)
• Journey Into Space (radio, 1953–1955)
• The Quatermass Experiment (television, 1953)
• Blast Off at Woomera by Hugh Walters (1957)
• Doctor Who (television) — "The Ambassadors of Death" (1970), "The Christmas Invasion" (2005)
• The Goodies - "Invasion of the Moon Creatures"(television, 1973)
• Moonbase 3 (television, 1973)
• Come Back Mrs. Noah (television, 1977)
• Star Cops (television, 1987)
• Red Dwarf (television, 1988–1999, 2009)
• Ministry of Space (comics, 2001–2004)
• Hyperdrive (TV series) (television, 2006–2007)

See also

• British National Space Centre replaced by the UK Space Agency in 2010
• National Space Centre (Leicester)
• British Rail flying saucer

External links

• Interview that Tim Peake has given to the Young Eagles at the museum of Army Flying
• British National Space Centre
• History of British rocketry
• Britain in Space
• Information on Blue Streak
• History of HOTOL
• Virgin Galactic
• UK made 'fundamental space mistake'
• BBC Report on SST
• BBC, March 24, 2011, article on recent UK government announcement contrasted with recent French government funding increases.

Other resources

• Hill, C.N., A Vertical Empire: The History of the UK Rocket and Space Programme, 1950-1971
• Millard, Douglas, An Overview of United Kingdom Space Activity 1957-1987, ESA Publications.