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The first British person in space

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Re: The first British person in space

#31

Post by SuddsMcDuff »

t43562 wrote: post #7
drumhead wrote: post #5

It was really sad how she doesn't get the recognition she deserves for being the first Briton in space. Whether it's because she's a woman or because it was with the Russians she hasn't received the level of respect or adulation you expect for the achievement.

The public don't care that much about space I think - in the UK. It's not something people can pump themselves up with borrowed pride about. Our media is full of arts students and engineers are the people who come to fix your boiler. When technology is talked about, its only really impressive if it comes from somewhere else and sits in their hand. I'm from one of the other (forgotten) colonies so my perspective is pa…

I don't think it's as bad as all that. Personally, I always feel a little prick of national pride when I watch Space X launches and see that Goonhilly Earth Station (https://www.goonhilly.org/) has taken over tracking the rocket.

Re: The first British person in space

#32

Post by nickdothutton »

rob74 wrote: post #3

I wasn't aware of it until now, and I was surprised to find out that it took until 1991 for a Briton to fly to space - and with the Russians/Soviets no less, not with the Americans. But, if you look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_space_travel_by_na... , it looks like the Soviets recognized the propaganda value of giving a ride into space to citizens of "allied" nations (putting it in quotes because the…

Brits more or less completely abandoned space in any meaningful way. Successive governments didn't value it at all in comparison to other areas of policy. Even after we developed our own independent orbital launch capability. The story is much the same today, a couple of satellite companies, very little real primary capability. Our "spaceports" are mostly artist impressions or computer generated imagery. Meanwhile we will spend £250b annually on the health service by 2028, up from £45b in 2000.

Re: The first British person in space

#33

Post by celticninja »

nickdothutton wrote: post #32
rob74 wrote: post #3

I wasn't aware of it until now, and I was surprised to find out that it took until 1991 for a Briton to fly to space - and with the Russians/Soviets no less, not with the Americans. But, if you look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_space_travel_by_na... , it looks like the Soviets recognized the propaganda value of giving a ride into space to citizens of "allied" nations (putting it in quotes because the…

Brits more or less completely abandoned space in any meaningful way. Successive governments didn't value it at all in comparison to other areas of policy. Even after we developed our own independent orbital launch capability. The story is much the same today, a couple of satellite companies, very little real primary capability. Our "spaceports" are mostly artist impressions or computer generated imagery. Meanwhile we…

What is the point re the health service? We should be enriching people like musk instead of looking after the health of citizens? We spend money on loads of stuff just wondering why you think the NHS needs to be singled out as if it is using resources that could be used to find space exploration/launches.

Re: The first British person in space

#34

Post by [deleted] »

nickdothutton wrote: post #32
rob74 wrote: post #3

I wasn't aware of it until now, and I was surprised to find out that it took until 1991 for a Briton to fly to space - and with the Russians/Soviets no less, not with the Americans. But, if you look at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_space_travel_by_na... , it looks like the Soviets recognized the propaganda value of giving a ride into space to citizens of "allied" nations (putting it in quotes because the…

Brits more or less completely abandoned space in any meaningful way. Successive governments didn't value it at all in comparison to other areas of policy. Even after we developed our own independent orbital launch capability. The story is much the same today, a couple of satellite companies, very little real primary capability. Our "spaceports" are mostly artist impressions or computer generated imagery. Meanwhile we…

[deleted]

Re: The first British person in space

#35

Post by jrmg »

alansaber wrote: post #17

I remember Tim Peake being touted as the first British astronaut, and being a little confused (having previously met Helen Sharman at Imperial College London) had to dig this story up myself.

People will argue that Sharman was a cosmonaut because she went into space with the Soviet Union.

The distinction is Cold War propaganda that has never made any sense to me. We have two English words to describe the same thing, but one is only used if the act was done or facilitated by Russia?

Re: The first British person in space

#36

Post by cs02rm0 »

celticninja wrote: post #33
nickdothutton wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brits more or less completely abandoned space in any meaningful way. Successive governments didn't value it at all in comparison to other areas of policy. Even after we developed our own independent orbital launch capability. The story is much the same today, a couple of satellite companies, very little real primary capability. Our "spaceports" are mostly artist impressions or computer generated imagery. Meanwhile we…

What is the point re the health service? We should be enriching people like musk instead of looking after the health of citizens? We spend money on loads of stuff just wondering why you think the NHS needs to be singled out as if it is using resources that could be used to find space exploration/launches.

The NHS consumes about half of all day to day public service spending. It is singular in its ability to suck spending out of UK government.

Re: The first British person in space

#37

Post by badgersnake »

celticninja wrote: post #33
nickdothutton wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brits more or less completely abandoned space in any meaningful way. Successive governments didn't value it at all in comparison to other areas of policy. Even after we developed our own independent orbital launch capability. The story is much the same today, a couple of satellite companies, very little real primary capability. Our "spaceports" are mostly artist impressions or computer generated imagery. Meanwhile we…

What is the point re the health service? We should be enriching people like musk instead of looking after the health of citizens? We spend money on loads of stuff just wondering why you think the NHS needs to be singled out as if it is using resources that could be used to find space exploration/launches.

That’s the second C-suite I’ve seen on here today posting about how your entitlement to things should be directly proportional to your wealth.

Has a new memo gone out? Have we moved on from AI to ultracapitalism as the c-suite talking point?

Re: The first British person in space

#38

Post by dtf »

cs02rm0 wrote: post #36
celticninja wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the point re the health service? We should be enriching people like musk instead of looking after the health of citizens? We spend money on loads of stuff just wondering why you think the NHS needs to be singled out as if it is using resources that could be used to find space exploration/launches.

The NHS consumes about half of all day to day public service spending. It is singular in its ability to suck spending out of UK government.

That seems like a lot. Can I ask where you got that figure? Is "day-to-day" denoting some kind of specific budget?

I just tried to Google it and their AI responded with "The NHS and social care account for roughly half (49%) of all day-to-day public service spending controlled by the Westminster government.", linking me to a report from the The King's Fund [1].

But on reading that report, it seems to say only that 49.5% is the cost of staffing the NHS from its own budget, which it states as £205 billion in 2024/25 - that's more like 20% of the year's public spending [2]. Which seems more in line with what I had assumed.

[1] https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/data-and-c...

[2] https://obr.uk/docs/dlm_uploads/BriefGuide-M23.pdf

Re: The first British person in space

#39

Post by KineticLensman »

simonh wrote: post #21
WWWWH wrote: post #18

The story I remember is that at the time she worked for Mars (developing the Mars ice cream), so one of the tabloids had the headline: "Woman from Mars goes to space!"

Peak British journalism.

No, that was "Foot heads arms body", when Michael Foot became the chair of CND.

Re: The first British person in space

#40

Post by rob74 »

KineticLensman wrote: post #39
simonh wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Peak British journalism.

No, that was "Foot heads arms body", when Michael Foot became the chair of CND.

TBF, that pun was to good to pass up. Although (after looking up the CND) "Foot heads no-arms body" would have been more correct (and maybe even funnier, depending on your sense of humour)...

EDIT: looks like this is one of the most well-known headlines that was never actually used: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Foot#%22Foot_Heads_Arm...

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