DD_Arthur Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Lol, Bongo! The ex-brits flew because they were very good at what they did. Look at Colin Foale's record. He is one of the most experienced astronauts in the world. All these other guys from Belgium, Mexico and Timbuktu flew once and they flew for reasons that were primarily political, not scientific. Its quite true that Britain abandoned its space programme in the early seventies on the basis of cost and in true British style we called a halt only after we'd spent vast amounts of money and produced a working launch vehicle! But in the UK theres only so much cake to go around and a space programme was abandoned in the face of other pressing demands. We are not contributing members of the ESA but I think we can all take pride in the fact that we are now spending a vastly bigger sum on two large floating boxes now taking shape in the Firth of Fourth. Sometime in the distant future we might even be able to afford some aeroplanes to put on.....one of them. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Bongodriver Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 The UK is the 4th largest contributor to ESA https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-space-agency Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Arthur Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 The UK is the 4th largest contributor to ESA https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-space-agency It is now but see if you can find some history on the funding and funding as a percentage of government spending. Funding as a percentage of government spending counts for more in all EU decisions than straight cash. As usual we came late to the funding party as we had our own programme up until the seventies whereas the ESA and its predecessor organisations go back decades. As in all these things we were in at the beginning but were reluctant to trust those slippery europeans with our own wonga. Thats why the ESA is dominated by France. I don't have a clue as to the figures but I'm willing to bet Germany has been the biggest contributor for donkey's years. Its a pity the ESA is going down the astronaut route at the moment as on a science only basis unmanned missions offer much, much more scope for scientific research than trying to keep a human alive in orbit. However, I am now willing to concede the main point; the US won't let Brits fly as they obviously hate us! S! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2. Administrators Jabo Posted June 3, 2014 2. Administrators Share Posted June 3, 2014 #specialrelationship Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Arthur Posted November 14, 2014 Share Posted November 14, 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nvgq1 Well worth a listen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum FoolTrottel Posted November 15, 2014 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted November 15, 2014 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nvgq1 Well worth a listen. Sure is, thanks for posting that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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