The British space 'anomaly'

I did not see this posted on ATS before. This deserves attention as we finally will now have a British austronaut in space. Britan has been an anomoly in space exploration till today and needs to be congratulated for this step

It was a stunning announcement: Major Tim. British astronaut. His impact is going to be immense as an icon for science and technology.

No longer do the British media have to claim UK-born US citizens flying with Nasa as their own. They now have the real thing.

But that's not the point. The UK, for so long a bystander in the realm of human spaceflight, is now part of the game.

The UK, remember, once had its own rocket capable of putting a satellite in orbit. It simply gave it up.

the director-general of ESA, often describes the UK's position on space as an "anomaly".

Article: UK Space anamoly


[edit on 21-5-2009 by sunny_2008ny]

MAJOR timothy peake 37

did you hear his statement last night on the news?
"the next 10 years is going to see major scenarios in space"
please correct if misquoted, but i was in some sorta shock when he said this, did ESA on the job interview give him some teasers on the panel.

[edit on 21-5-2009 by foxhoundone]

[edit on 21-5-2009 by foxhoundone]

reply to post by foxhoundone


Or perhaps just referring to the relative glut of projects that are in the pipeline?
Maybe even just a little over exuberance at the fact hes just landed one of the most sought after job in the field
Do find it interesting hes a former Army Air Corp flight tester , does anybody know if he has any other scientific background?
I've always thought it was a requirement you had to at least be a comparative
"expert" in a couple of fields , no point having some one on board that can only do one job if another can do two sort of thing....

With the state of Britain's finances for the foreseeable future I wouldnt be expecting a significant UK contribution to ESA for awhile.

They could have at least picked an astronaut named Tom.

Oh what I wouldn't give to hear those words spoken in a British accent "Ground control to Major Tom"

:-)