Buy a book... 
| The History of the UK Rocket and Space Programme, 1950-1971 | Buy a book...
|
| Author(s): | C. N. Hill |
| Publisher: | Imperial College Press |
| ISBN: | 1860942687 |
| Format: | softback |
| 253pp | |
| Price: | £20.00 |
| Review Date: | 06 August 2001 |
| Review: | The UK space programme has had a low profile as the projects were less ambitious than those of the Americans or Russians. Over the years, the UK projects were cancelled one by one in the face of Treasury pressure and the belief that there was no future in space technology. Most of the work was in the military sector, much of it for nuclear weapons. The biggest project, described here, was Blue Streak, which was originally designed to launch hydrogen bombs at the USSR, but later became used as a satellite launcher. Black Knight was a research vehicle, designed to research re-entry vehicles for nuclear warheads. Black Arrow was the only major project discussed in the book whose applications were intended to be solely civilian and scientific. Much of the material in the book has come into the public domain fairly recently, as a result of the thirty-year rule. |