Ten key moments in British space exploration

Tim Peake Credit: Reuters

The European Space Agency is welcoming its first British astronaut, Major Tim Peake.

Peake is now in training at Star City in Moscow, Russia - and as he prepares for the trip of a lifetime, we take a look at some of Britain's biggest contributions to space exploration.

  • British Interplanetary Society

Founded in Liverpool in 1933, the British Interplanetary Society is the oldest space advocacy organisation in the world.

Aiming to support and promote the concept of space exploration, it is a non-profit organisation which originally hoped to experiment itself with launching rockets.

The British Interplanetary Society is the oldest space advocacy organisation in the world. Credit: PA

However, in 1936 it discovered it was banned from using liquid explosives by the Explosives Act of 1975.

It is credited with inventing the first instrument for space travel - a navigation mechanism which overcame the previously-held view that the cabin would have to rotate to provide artificial gravity in landing.

In 2007, it was shortlisted in the Sir Arthur Clarke Awards for its design of a manned station on the Martian North Pole.

  • Skynet

Skynet is a series of military satellites, first launched in 1969 after being unveiled on an episode of Blue Peter.

A Ministry of Defence handout photo of the Skynet 5b communications satellite Credit: Ministry of Defence

They provide communication services for the Ministry of Defence to the three branches of the British Armed Forces - the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, and the Royal Air Force, as well as providing intelligence to NATO forces engaged in coalition operations.

It is the UK's single most expensive space project.

  • The Prospero satellite

In 1971, Prospero became the first, and last, UK satellite to be sent into space by a British rocket, the Black Arrow.

Prospero was used to carry out a series of experiments. Credit: geni/Wikipedia Commons

It was used to carry out a series of experiments looking at the effects of the space environment on communications satellites.

Prospero operated successfully until 1973 and was contacted once a year until 1996.

  • Flying saucer patent

Bosses at the British Railways Board drew up an official plan to build a 'flying saucer'.

Not only did they design the craft, they even filed for a patent.

Did British Rail want to design their own version? The US Air Force's NASA Voyager Mars space probe, which may have been behind the so-called 'Roswell Incident' in New Mexico Credit: Reuters

The plans were only rediscovered in 2006 when workers at the European Patent Office unearthed a copy of the patent, which had been granted in 1973.

Powered by a "controlled thermonuclear fusion reaction" ignited by "one or more pulsed laser beams", the spacecraft was dreamed up by inventor Charles Osmond Frederick.

It never actually materialised, of course - perhaps due to the idea being, in the words of countless nuclear scientists commenting on the 2006 discovery, "unworkable".

  • The British National Space Centre

The British National Space Centre was established in Swindon in 1985 by the government to coordinate UK civil space activities, including space science, Earth observation, satellite telecommunications, and global navigation.

Pictured in 2010, Tim Peake helped open the UK Space Agency, which took over from the British National Space Centre Credit: PA

It had a policy against human space travel, and as such did not contribute to the International Space Centre.

It was replaced by the UK Space Agency in 2010.

  • The first Briton in space

Helen Sharman became the first Briton to go into space when she was part of Project Juno in 1991.

Helen Sharman walks to the launch pad at Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in May 1991. Credit: PA

She spent a week on the Russian Mir space station as part of a project between several British companies and the Russian government. She was also the first woman to visit the Mir station.

  • Beagle 2

Britain's first probe to another planet, Beagle 2 was sent to Mars as part of the European Space Agency's Mars Express, with the aim of searching for any signs of alien life.

Pictured in 2002, Prof Colin Pillinger with the Beagle 2 landing craft Credit: PA

Launched by Prof Colin Pillinger and colleagues at the Open University, it was due to land on Christmas Day 2003, but was lost for a portion of time when it failed to respond to signals from Earth. It was not even known whether or not it had landed successfully.

It was finally found, intact, earlier this year by Nasa's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. PIctures appear to show that while it landed successfully, one of the solar panels did not unfold as it should have done, blocking a radio antenna.

Prof Pillinger was later awarded a CBE for his role in the ambitious project, but died before knowing the fate of his project.

  • Virgin Galactic

Founded by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, the company has been developing commercial spacecraft with the aim of taking tourists into space.

Sir Richard Branson poses on a Virgin Galactic spacecraft. Credit: PA

An initial target of a maiden flight in 2009 was missed and the project has suffered a number of setbacks, most notably the test flight crash in 2014.

  • Commercial spaceport

In July last year, the government announced plans to build a £50 million spaceport by 2030, in the hopes the UK can cash in on an anticipated £20 billion market for space tourism.

A spaceport could be built in Britain similar to this one on Kodiak Island, Alaska Credit: PA

Six possible aerodromes have been named on a shortlist for the site: Campbeltown, Glasgow Prestwick, RAF Leuchars, and Stornoway in Scotland; Newquay in England and Llanbedr in Wales.

It is hoped that it will be operational by 2018.

  • European Space Agency’s first British astronaut

Major Tim Peake is the European Space Agency’s first British astronaut.

Major Tim Peake has been undergoing training at Star City in Russia. Credit: ITV News

He has been undergoing training at Star City and in December 2015 will travel to the International Space Station and spend around five months aboard.