Axiom signs deal with the United Kingdom to fly all British mission
The space agency of the United Kingdom today announced that it has signed a deal with Axiom to fly an manned mission in space, with four astronauts spending up to two weeks in space (likely in a SpaceX Dragon capsule).
The flight, estimated to cost around £200 million, is being organized in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), though all the astronauts will be British. The announced commander, Tim Peake, spent six months on ISS in 2015, and has come out of retirement to do the flight.
It is also unclear at this moment whether it will fly to ISS, or simply remain in orbit. In fact, few specific details have yet been released.
The bottom line however is that the new American space industry is going to make money from Britain’s desire to be a space power. Seems like a good deal to me.
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The space agency of the United Kingdom today announced that it has signed a deal with Axiom to fly an manned mission in space, with four astronauts spending up to two weeks in space (likely in a SpaceX Dragon capsule).
The flight, estimated to cost around £200 million, is being organized in cooperation with the European Space Agency (ESA), though all the astronauts will be British. The announced commander, Tim Peake, spent six months on ISS in 2015, and has come out of retirement to do the flight.
It is also unclear at this moment whether it will fly to ISS, or simply remain in orbit. In fact, few specific details have yet been released.
The bottom line however is that the new American space industry is going to make money from Britain’s desire to be a space power. Seems like a good deal to me.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I have often wondered why Britain, the country who, in the words of Jeremy Clarkson, ‘invented everything’, has effectively disappeared from space. For several centuries, British technology, power, and influence, was unrivaled. It seems to me that in the 1950’s, after the privations and destruction of WW II, Britain gave up on being a major world player, and went full Socialist. This was perhaps inevitable, as they had lost their Empire, and six years of being a target will take its toll. Still, for a people as innovative and risk-taking as the British have proven to be, it is sad to see.
If it’s a two week mission, as the press release suggests, it’s gotta be to a space station, because Dragon’s ECLSS will not last that long. And since there is only one space station it can go to right now . . .
Space should have been their focus…but like us–they spent big on aircraft and carriers and neglected space. Let the United States do carrier groups and many Pounds will be freed up for Skylon.
The Black Arrow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow
https://youtu.be/FHBGAyIU8Hw
https://youtu.be/FKRkFwc9234
https://youtu.be/x5whyyaFxAQ