Roll up, roll up, see the results of the 50 year experiment!
The last every skylark rocket is going to be launched in Sweden tomorrow - what's Skylark, you ask? That's Britain's sub orbital space launcher. To quote the operator of the program:
"This is a 50-year-old programme - it began in 1955 and we will conclude in 2005. At one stage, it was a very big programme with over 200 people working on it.
"The Skylark is a classic. Back in the '50s, Britain was very advanced on the capabilities of aircraft and they were coming up to launch satellites; the country was Europe's leading light and we were up there with the Americans and Russians.
"It wasn't until later in the '50s and '60s that governments started cutting back on programmes."
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4490253.stm
So, let's see - back in 1950, Britain had an active space program, and a fledgeling National Health Service.
In 1971, the UK launched a satelite into Polar orbit from Woomera in Australia, becoming only the third nation to be cpaable of space flight - that same year (the year I was born, incidentally) we cancelled the project, choosing to invest the money in.... the national health service.
Roll forward to 2005, we have an NHS that costs a ludicrous amount of money, underperforms constantly, and our pensioners have to wait over a year for a hip replacement. (average waiting time in Scotland: 19 months)
France, on the other hand, had a space program in development in the 50s and 60s, which they chose to continue investing in, eventually forming the backbone to arianespace, and allowing Europe to have a "European Space Agency" that wasn't a complete joke. This, of course, led to the current situation where Arianespace has something like a 60% market share of all LEO and GEOsync launch business.
And France's health care? world class. A hip replacement operation is usually carried out within 2-3 months.
The UK, of course, sits in the corner and won't play along, trying to reduce ESA's budget every year, trying to repeat the same stupid mistake, over and over again.
The FACT:
If you invest money in a high tech project, such as flying to the moon or landing probes on the furthest planets, and you champion it in the public arena, making it something to be proud of... the entire fabric of the nation improves.
It's time for the whole "spend it on the poor" brigade to sit the F down, and shut the F up - history ahs proven them wrong, and at a ridiculous cost to boot.
W.
The last every skylark rocket is going to be launched in Sweden tomorrow - what's Skylark, you ask? That's Britain's sub orbital space launcher. To quote the operator of the program:
"This is a 50-year-old programme - it began in 1955 and we will conclude in 2005. At one stage, it was a very big programme with over 200 people working on it.
"The Skylark is a classic. Back in the '50s, Britain was very advanced on the capabilities of aircraft and they were coming up to launch satellites; the country was Europe's leading light and we were up there with the Americans and Russians.
"It wasn't until later in the '50s and '60s that governments started cutting back on programmes."
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4490253.stm
So, let's see - back in 1950, Britain had an active space program, and a fledgeling National Health Service.
In 1971, the UK launched a satelite into Polar orbit from Woomera in Australia, becoming only the third nation to be cpaable of space flight - that same year (the year I was born, incidentally) we cancelled the project, choosing to invest the money in.... the national health service.
Roll forward to 2005, we have an NHS that costs a ludicrous amount of money, underperforms constantly, and our pensioners have to wait over a year for a hip replacement. (average waiting time in Scotland: 19 months)
France, on the other hand, had a space program in development in the 50s and 60s, which they chose to continue investing in, eventually forming the backbone to arianespace, and allowing Europe to have a "European Space Agency" that wasn't a complete joke. This, of course, led to the current situation where Arianespace has something like a 60% market share of all LEO and GEOsync launch business.
And France's health care? world class. A hip replacement operation is usually carried out within 2-3 months.
The UK, of course, sits in the corner and won't play along, trying to reduce ESA's budget every year, trying to repeat the same stupid mistake, over and over again.
The FACT:
If you invest money in a high tech project, such as flying to the moon or landing probes on the furthest planets, and you champion it in the public arena, making it something to be proud of... the entire fabric of the nation improves.
It's time for the whole "spend it on the poor" brigade to sit the F down, and shut the F up - history ahs proven them wrong, and at a ridiculous cost to boot.
W.