A UK Space Timeline

The temptation to give the Timeline a major overall has been very difficult resist as there some important gaps in the early years and things have moved on since the last entry for 1996.
But for the moment I have just mirrored the page as it was on GeoCities
Douglas Ian Holland October 2009

2 May 1945	German rocket team from Peenemunde, including Werner von Braun, surrenders to Allied forces. The team had built the V-2 that was used to bomb London, and were planning a two-stage rocket that could bomb New York.
7 May 1945	German surrender in Second World War. War in Europe ends.
14 August 1945	Japanese surrender in Second World War. Second World War ends.

23 December 1946	R.A. Smith and H.E. Ross submit a British Interplanetary Society proposal for a "Man-carrying V-2" to the Ministry of Supply. Ministry turns down idea.
November 1951	Second IAF Congress on Astronautics. Gatland, Kunesch and Dixon submit paper "Minimum Satellite Launch Vehicles". This research is later used by NASA in the design of Explorer I.
1953	UK detonates its first atomic bomb at Emu, Australia.
1954	Blue Streak Long Range Balistic Missile, and Black Knight Test Rocket projects are started.
13 February 1957	First launch of Skylark sounding rocket from Woomera, Australia. Rocket still in use today. (last Launch was 2005 DIH)
7 September 1958	First launch of Black Knight test rocket from Woomera, Australia.
4 February 1960	Sir Edward Playfair writes to Minister of Aviation Sir William Strath, asking for a Blue Streak/Black Knight satellite launcher to be studied.
13 April 1960	Blue Streak cencelled as a weapon. Replaced by US Skybolt (also cancelled) and then by Polaris (See below).
May 1960	Black Prince costed at £35 million (Rises to £52 million + £12 million for satellites by September).
Sept/Oct 1960	Minister of Aviation Thorneycroft tours Australia and Canada promoting Black Prince as a "Commonwealth Launcher".
30 October 1961	ELDO formed with UK, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and Australia.
April 1962	UK satellite Ariel 1 launched by US Delta rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
April 1963	US & UK sign Polaris sales agreement. UK buys Polaris Sea Launched Balistic Missiles as its nuclear deterrent.
5 June 1964	Royal Aircraft Establishment starts development of Black Arrow.
25 November 1965	Last Black Knight launch takes place at Woomera, Australia.
30 November 1968	First attempt to launch 3-stage Europa I from Woomera. Attempt fails.
28 June 1969	Suborbital launch (2 stages) of Black Arrow rocket from Woomera. Attempt fails.
4 March 1970	Successful suborbital launch (2 stages) of Black Arrow from Woomera.
2 September 1970	Failed orbital attempt (3 stages) with Black Arrow from Woomera. Satellite Orba (X-2) lost. Project cancelled.
28 October 1971	Successful launch of UK satellite Prospero (X-3) on Black Arrow from Woomera.
5 November 1971	First attempt to launch Europa II (4-stages) from Korou, French Guiana. Attempt fails.
1973	British Interplanetary Socirty starts Daedalus project to design an Interstellar Probe.
31 May 1975	ESA established with UK, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
1983	Alan Bond files patent for air-breathing rocket engine RB545. This is then classified TOP SECRET.
1984	Alan Bond and Bob Parkinson start HOTOL study within British Aerospace. HOTOL designed to put 7 Tonnes into Low Earth Orbit.
1985	British Government sets up British National Space Center to act as Space Agency for the UK.
1986	HOTOL project announced with �2 million of Government funding for "proof of concept" study. Study runs until 1988.
25 July 1988	HOTOL project scrapped when Industry Minister Kenneth Clarke refuses further funding.
1989	Some members of the Rolls-Royce HOTOL propulsion team form the company Reaction Engines Ltd to continue the design.
1990	British Aerospace approaches USSR to start Interim HOTOL project. This uses An-225 aircraft to launch a small HOTOL powered by Russian rocket engines.
1990	Reaction Engines Ltd begins work on Skylon, a successor to HOTOL. New design to put 12 Tonnes in Low Earth Orbit.
18 May 1991	Helen Sharman flies to Mir Space Station with USSR. Although she is a British citizen, her flight is paid for by commercial interests, not the UK Government.
October 1996	Aspirespace amateur rocket ASVR is launched from West Tofts military training ground in Norfolk. This is the most advanced British rocket since Black Arrow in 1971.

More to come..

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Britain in Space

British Space Projects

Pre-Space Age

The 1950s

The 1960s

The 1970s

The 1980s

The 1990s & Beyond

Miscellaneous