DBWI: The UK has launched its first space shuttle today

Earlier this morning, the Britannia blasted off from Fort Mountbatten in northern England in a succesful launch with a crew of 6 astronauts from the Royal Air Force. To date, this is a crowning moment in the British Space Programme.

You are invited to share your thoughts on this historical event.
 
Last edited:
oh yes i remember glorius day back in 1968 as,
R. H Francis from Hawker Siddeley presenting a paper on UK Space Shuttle
a configuration identical to that of the US Space Shuttle
(OTL real fact - source: Volume 59 Supplement 2, 2006 of BIS’s Space Chronicles – UK Spaceplanes, on Page 107)

that start the new British Space Programme.
 
If they'd at least have used one of their island territories closer to the Equator, those fuel tanks wouldn't have needed to be 300 feet tall...
 
If they'd at least have used one of their island territories closer to the Equator, those fuel tanks wouldn't have needed to be 300 feet tall...
Yes I believe that they launched it from North England for national pride and to show that they were doing it in Britain with British equipment even though most of it was just renamed American equipment not that I want to take the shine of the occasion
 
Yes I believe that they launched it from North England for national pride and to show that they were doing it in Britain with British equipment even though most of it was just renamed American equipment not that I want to take the shine of the occasion

The brave decision to cut down the defence budget to 30% of Cold War time and to use the rest for British Space Program and other technology programs has been often ridiculed, but I guess if the money had not been earmarked it would have been frittered away in patching other sector's budget. After all, Ministry of Space now liberally outspends NASA and it clearly shows in results.
 
Fort Mountbatten
Established in 1957 as the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Test Centre, the 9,000 acre site in the North Pennines between Brampton and Hexham became the centre of UK space exploration projects...

Following the enthusiam from then Chief of the Defence Staff, Lord Mountbatten, the site, close to the remains of Hadrians Wall, earned it's affectionate title of "Fort Mountbatten", although the official title of RAF Spadeadam still remains...


It's all very well being enthusiatic about the UK's space achievements, but you don't live here. I grew up in Gilsland in the 1950s and it was a great little community until the RAF arrived. It destroyed our community, and all so that the Tory government could pretend we were still a great power.

The bloody M69 motorway from Carlisle to Newcastle was built just 100 yards from my mother's house, and I'm sure that it was this that took her to an early grave.

Rant over.
 

Dure

Banned
Designed by: Roly Mo and Valerie Singleton
Built by: George, Bungle, Zippy and Geoffrey on piece work
Fixed by: Bob
Painted by: Banksy
Powered by: Fisherman’s Friend
Launched from: Spaceport Ballamory
 
Designed by: Roly Mo and Valerie Singleton
Built by: George, Bungle, Zippy and Geoffrey on piece work
Fixed by: Bob
Painted by: Banksy
Powered by: Fisherman’s Friend
Launched from: Spaceport Ballamory
button_moon.jpg
 
But, will Britain still launch the planned Guenivere One? Not to mention Mars Probe Seven?

And, what about that Blue Streak launch site near that Village in Wales?
 

terence

Banned
Earlier this morning, the Britannia blasted off from Fort Mountbatten in northern England in a succesful launch with a crew of 6 astronauts from the Royal Air Force. To date, this is a crowning moment in the British Space Programme.

You are invited to share your thoughts on this historical event.


The North, eh?

Space and Technology Minister Lord Arthur Scargill said, in a speech later, that as the world's only coal-powered space vehicle, Brittania was another justification for the violent overthrow of the Thatcher government of the 1980s and the installation of a Miners collective in Westminster. It was gratifying, he added, that all six Astronauts were members of the Miner's Union and all had previously worked down t' pit.

The Brittania shuttle is just one of the benefits of Britain's move to the Coal Standard in 1986, freeing the country from the economic sluggishness caused by linking the old pound to unstable foreign currencies, said Lord Scargill.

The six astronauts aboard Brttania will have all of the comforts of home during their two week flight to Rendevous with the Polish space station "Plonkski". The interior of the shuttle was designed by the same team that provided the decor for the House of the Workers that replaced the Houses of Parliament and Slagthorpe Working Mens Club, long considered the epitome of good taste. The formica worktops were personally designed by Lord Scargill and the curtains on the shuttle's portholes selected by his Auntie Doris. Unique among spacecraft, the bar is equipped with a device allowing Brown Ale to be dispensed in zero-gravity with almost no loss of head although the Astronauts will still have to use glasses with a specially adapted baby's teat attachment.
Despite criticism from American and Russian designers, the anti-gravity lavatory works perfectly despite being mounted on the outside of the craft.
Among the experiments the team will carry out in orbit will be to study the effects of zero gravity on picking horses for a trifecta, the ballistic properties of darts and the changes in the eating habits of whippets. One crew member will carry out an extremely important agricultural experiment during flight to discover if high g-forces can produce pea-plants that germinate ready-mushy.
 
Top