British manned program in 60s?

Would the UK launch from a site in the Commonwealth, a small island somewhere, or its own territory? (Hey, there's a nice spot near a small village in Wales that would be perfect for a Blue Streak launch...*)

* Tip of the hat to whoever gets the in-joke...

Yes, having visited the Village in question, I reckon the launch pad must have been in the car park behind the Dome, Number Six ;-)

During the period in question, Britain actually had one of the best value for money rocket programmes going. It ended up being cancelled in favour of funding Concorde, because the fools in power thought SST would be more commercially viable than satellite launches. I have no doubt that Britain could have had at least a basic manned space programme in the 70s, and quite possibly in the early 60s if the will had been there. "A Vertical Empire" is quite an interesting book, I'd recommend it to anyone who's interested in early space history and the "what ifs" of that period.
 
I don't know if they're still in business, but Frankenstein and Sons used to make high altitude pressure suits, survival gear for downed aircrew, that kind of thing. They also made the spacesuits for "2001: A Space Odyssey". Coincidentally, they used to have some kind of works round the corner from where I live now, many years ago - it's a small block of flats now.
 
we have parallel discussion at Secret project forum :rolleyes:

there we had those Lauunch site
Kenya, Mount Kenya
Aden Colony
Australia with Woomera or Darwin http://www.spaceuk.org/bstreak/eldo/darwin.html

and there was also a Launch site 1961 proposal in UK
RAF Spadeadam
at Cumbria, in the NorthWest of England, close to the Scottish border
http://www.spaceuk.org/bstreak/bs/cumbria.htm

in end i proposed modifide UK Aircaftcarrier like Sealaunch

the british Windak 1962 Spacesuit prototype end up also in a SF Movie
First Men in the Moon (1964 film)

Aa_09a_nasasuit_flagfound.jpg

WAT? THE BRITS WERE THE FIRST ON MOON! :D
 
Guys

Australia is handy but would New Guinea be better? Closer to the equator and some fairly high mountains close to the coast. Hence a big boost in the ability to get loads into orbit.

Steve
 
Guys

Australia is handy but would New Guinea be better? Closer to the equator and some fairly high mountains close to the coast. Hence a big boost in the ability to get loads into orbit.

Steve
Mountains don't help that much. You note that no one OTL uses them.

Cape York would do almost as well as New Guinea, in terms of latitude.
 

Thande

Donor
I think people exaggerate the latitude thing. Yes it optimises things and means you use less fuel, but it's not worth the vast expense of transporting rockets to the arse end of creation, and transport limitations can ultimately constrain the size of rocket components. Not to mention it often puts you at the mercy of tropical weather (as the Americans have found to their cost).

As an example of how this is basically unnecessary, the Soviets and Russians have been launching from Plesetsk since 1959. Plesetsk is 500 miles north of Moscow. Essentially there is nothing (save the risk of jettisoned components landing on people's houses, not that that stops the Chinese) to stop Britain from just launching its rockets from, well, Britain.
 
I think people exaggerate the latitude thing. Yes it optimises things and means you use less fuel, but it's not worth the vast expense of transporting rockets to the arse end of creation, and transport limitations can ultimately constrain the size of rocket components. Not to mention it often puts you at the mercy of tropical weather (as the Americans have found to their cost).

As an example of how this is basically unnecessary, the Soviets and Russians have been launching from Plesetsk since 1959. Plesetsk is 500 miles north of Moscow. Essentially there is nothing (save the risk of jettisoned components landing on people's houses, not that that stops the Chinese) to stop Britain from just launching its rockets from, well, Britain.

In some cases it can nearly double your payload...but Britain already has Woomera, at only 31 degrees south (only a little farther south than Canaveral is north), far inland and with a HUGE range safety area. They won't have any problems with finding good launch sites.

Anyways, the Soviets launching from Plesetsk was and is a big compromise to keep their rockets out of China and away from the US. At first, the site was used for ICBM tests out of range of US spying eyes and ears...later, they added sat launch capabilities for much the same reason...and then, when the USSR broke up, Russia began moving stuff there because they didn't have to pay the Kazakhs for it and it was already built. Not because they really, really didn't care about how far north it is.
 

Thande

Donor
In some cases it can nearly double your payload...but Britain already has Woomera, at only 31 degrees south (only a little farther south than Canaveral is north), far inland and with a HUGE range safety area. They won't have any problems with finding good launch sites.

Anyways, the Soviets launching from Plesetsk was and is a big compromise to keep their rockets out of China and away from the US. At first, the site was used for ICBM tests out of range of US spying eyes and ears...later, they added sat launch capabilities for much the same reason...and then, when the USSR broke up, Russia began moving stuff there because they didn't have to pay the Kazakhs for it and it was already built. Not because they really, really didn't care about how far north it is.

Well, you don't want to launch at far northern or southern latitudes if you have the choice, but my point is it is possible.

I agree Woomera is a pretty much perfect site anyway, much like Baikonur. About the only better place I can think of is somewhere like southern Algeria or Saudi Arabia, and then you have other environmental problems to deal with.
 
i look in Wikipedia and Found the perfect candidate for Blue Streak Sealaunch platform

HMS Leviathan , Aircraft carrier of Majestic Class.
she was never completed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Leviathan_(R97)
http://www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk/majestic_class.htm
http://www.fleetairarmarchive.net/ships/LEVIATHAN.html

easy to modified for Rocket launch
and as option to search&recover the Manned/spysat capsule after splashdown

spysat ?
its perfect reason to go on with British Spaceprogram including a Manned one

here in full glory HMS Leviathan with Blue Streak with Lox/lh2 stage (and french L-17 booster)
(in same scale)
instresting is that the Aircraftlift are 12 x 10 meter right size for the Upperstage
however the Blue Streak + booster has to stay on flight deck

but one problem is the service tower with high of 40 meter (the big rectangle right)
would it be better, if that one can lies down on flightdeck ?

HMS-Leviathan.png
 
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