UK Astronaut Tim Peake

Good luck to Tim Peake:I watched him take off for the International Space Station but why was there all the flag waving and hype about his journey in the British press and media? Tim Peake was not making history as over 300 astronauts have already made it to the ISS. He was just making British history.

The UK is no longer a world power in the military or economic sense and it ranks well down the pecking order when it comes to space endeavour.  Britain was one of the first countries to launch a satellite into space with a made made rocket but it now lags behind France, India, The US, Russia and China.

Tim Peake's bravery, intelligence and demeanour makes up for the lack of commitment of the UK to make a full contribution to the International space effort. The British government has only committed to one trip for a British astronaut but hopefully it can find the money for more.

It was great to see Tim Peake enter the ISS from the Russian made Soyuz space capsule and no doubt his friends and family were rightly proud of him. Tim is proud of his country and proud to wear the Union Jack. However, was all the flag waving by the British press and media necessary? Tim got there by courtesy of the Russians, the Americans and, dare I say it, our European partners.

If our astronaut had got to the ISS by way of a British rocket and spaceship then our nation would be doing something for which we could be really proud and we could could all wave the flag.

Britain has some great aeronautical engineers and they need our support  to get us back into space with our own kit.

Skylon is one such project - the British government is supporting this and hopefully it will be as successful as Tim Peake.

http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/johnpreece/2013/09/06/sabre-skylon-and-the-british-aerospace

http://rocketeers.co.uk/taxonomy/term/42