viviene8swansea

UK 'needs to be in space'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7072021.stm  It is probably too late for the UK to play a role in the Internationional Space Station(ISS),  are they totally blown it?

Warns Alan Thirkettle, a Brit who left the country to lead European Space Agency(Esa) projects. He says, the UK only contributed to the space programmes in the early 1980s, such as communication satellites, that were of immediate financial benefit to industry.

Build for those bold ventures
While it may be too late for the UK to build an astronaut corps in time to take advantage of programmes aboard the space station, the US is leading an effort to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 and prepare for even longer missions to Mars and other bodies in the Solar System.  

Exploration across our planet
The UK Space Exploration Working Group (SEWG) said British participation in manned missions was vital for both UK sciece and economy. It is time for a new vision and a more distant voyage.

Nasa plans to finish building the space station by 2010 and then retire the space shuttles. The addition of a second crew module on the ISS in late 2009 or early 2010 will enable the space station to support six full-time residents instead of three.
other vocabulary: Russian Soyuz Capsules, space policy, space ship,space shuttles(太空梭), space travel=spaceflight