UK 'needs to be in space'
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It is probably too late for the UK to play a role in the Internationional Space Station(ISS),
are they totally blown it?
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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