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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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