# Was GB Actively Attempting a Manned Space Program in the 1950's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-gb-actively-attempting-a-manned-space-program-in-the-1950s/126287 "2002-08-30T13:58:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-gb-actively-attempting-a-manned-space-program-in-the-1950s/126287/1 "2002-08-30T13:58:24Z")
I have a friend (a retired British engineer) who told me that the British MOD spent a pile of money in the early 1950’s in an attempt to put a man in space. Quite apart from the massive expense this would involve (probably beyond the financial capabilty of GB in the 1960’s)-what advantage would there be for this effort? This guy told me that the British Gov. spent millions on a missile launching base (in Woomwera, Australia), in the late 50’s, and that British aerospace firms (like DeHavviland) were given design contracts to build a manned spaceship, sort of like the US Project Gemini capsule. Any truth to this? Wetre the Brits planning a manned spavce program?😕 ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-gb-actively-attempting-a-manned-space-program-in-the-1950s/126287/2 "2002-08-30T14:13:41Z")
Launching a satellite into space per Sputnik may well have been on the drawing board, but IIRC didn’t it take GB at least a decade to recover from WWII. While the British may have been discussing it and possibly even “think tanking” it as a project I just don’t see them spending a lot of pounds on this in the early 50’s when there were a lot more pressing needs (like getting people fed and clothed) in the immediate post-war era. ---
**Author:** ![London\_Calling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@London\_Calling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/London_Calling)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-gb-actively-attempting-a-manned-space-program-in-the-1950s/126287/3 "2002-08-30T14:32:25Z")
I haven’t got a great deal of time just now but in case on one else comes along, the search term you want (for Google, etc) is probably ‘Blue Streak’ [http://www.border-tv.com/bluestreak/](http://www.border-tv.com/bluestreak/) ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-gb-actively-attempting-a-manned-space-program-in-the-1950s/126287/4 "2002-08-30T14:42:55Z")
A cursory search of [www.astronautix.com](http://www.astronautix.com) reveals nothing, but that doesn’t mean much. I consider such a thing to be quite plausible, for one very good reason. In the early 1950s, one Soviet objective was to create an [ICBM/IRBM](http://www.astronautix.com/lvfam/r7.htm) capable of tossing a 5500 Kg warhead package 5500 kilometers–in other words, straight at London from deep inside the USSR. I would be very surprised indeed if the UK relied solely upon the Yankees to provide a response. “Manned” spaceflight R&D does some wonderful things. It requires you to design a completely reliable launch system, which gives it “credibility;” it demands the ability to send a very large, very heavy package a long distance and safely bring it back to earth with high precision. Coincidentally, nuke-tipped ICBMs require the same things. So development of one tended to pull double-duty for the other, and that made “manned” designs an attractive way to fund military designs, and vice-versa.