Could Britain Have Launched an Astronaut into Orbit?

The science fiction author Stephen Baxter has written a short story, ‘Prospero One’, about the first and last launch of two British astronauts from Woomera. His ‘Black Prince III’ launch vehicle uses five Blue Streak boosters strapped together (this does seem a little over the top). But what would be needed for a manned capsule? Could it be done with British technology as of, for example, 1964 (and without five Blue Streaks)? The answer is yes – but only just.

America’s first manned spacecraft was the Mercury capsule, which weighed 4,300 lb at launch and 3,000 lb once in orbit (the escape tower was jettisoned during ascent). Mercury was the smallest capsule into which a man could be squeezed; there was no room or weight spare for anything else, and it had very limited endurance. The more capable two man capsule, Gemini, weighed in at 8,500 lb in orbit. Gemini could stay in orbit for several days, and carry a reasonable amount of equipment.

Given the original Black Prince design had a payload of around 2,200 lb into low earth orbit, it would have to be uprated very considerably, but by this time RPE had developed liquid hydrogen motors of around 4,000 lb thrust, so making a motor of 8,000 lb thrust would not be that difficult. The American Centaur stage had a thrust of 30,000 lb; four of the RPE motors gives a thrust of 32,000 lb. Centaur was even built in stainless steel using the same balloon technique as Atlas and Blue Streak; de Havilland could no doubt have built a similar stage without much difficulty. Such a vehicle might be able to put a payload in the region of 4,000 lb into orbit, which is close, but not really good enough.

There is the possibility of strap-on boosters: four Black Knight boosters, stripped of all other equipment, might well serve here. They could be uprated to

25,0 lb thrust, giving an extra 100,000 lb thrust at lift-off. This would mean that there would be weight to spare, so that the liquid hydrogen stage could be considerably stretched. Now we might have a vehicle capable of putting 6,000lb or more into orbit – perhaps sufficient, but only just, and by stretching the design as far as it can go.

All this is achievable with the technology of 1964, although developing the liquid hydrogen stage would involve some years work. As to cost: Gemini cost around $1.25 billion, or roughly £500 million at the contemporary exchange rate. The question arises as to whether it would have been worthwhile putting a British astronaut into orbit… and, regrettably, the answer is no. Gemini was merely a stepping stone to Apollo. Now we have an International Space Station but the financial or scientific return from the ISS is negligible, whereas its costs are horrendous.