HC Deb 05 June 1964 vol 695 cc1407-11
The Minister of Aviation (Mr. Julian Amery)

With your permission, Mr. Speaker, and that of the House, I would like to make a statement.

Blue Streak was launched successfully at Woomera at 0914 local time (0044 U.K. time) this morning in ideal weather conditions. The count-down proceeded smoothly, without any hold or malfunction in the vehicle or the range equipment, and led to a textbook launching.

So far as we know, all systems operated as planned, but thrust was terminated after 147 seconds, that is six seconds earlier than intended. The reason for this should be established in the course of detailed analysis of the telemetry records. As a result of thrust ending six seconds early, the maximum velocity was somewhat less than intended and the point of impact was about 625 statute miles from the launching site, instead of 950 miles. The maximum height reached was about 110 miles. The maximum speed attained was 6,400 m.p.h.

The trajectory was on the centre line of the range corridor, but slightly higher in angle than planned. Telemetry, radar and other range equipment worked successfully. They have given a mass of useful information which will now be analysed. A team is flying to the impact point to effect recovery. Technically, the launching was a success, and the trials objectives were achieved.

Further tests will be necessary before the launcher can be regarded as fully proven. This trial, however, has demonstrated the soundness of the Hawker Siddeley structural design, the Rolls-Royce propulsion and the many subsystems. It has also established that the ground facilities provided under the Joint Project Agreement and the Anglo-Australian trials team organisation are fully satisfactory for the task.

We have thus confirmed that Britain and Australia can meet their obligations under the first E.L.D.O. programme. The way is now open for us and our partners in E.L.D.O. to embark on the exploration and exploitation of space.

Mr. Cronin

Will the Minister convey to the scientists, engineers and technicians the congratulations of my right hon. and hon. Friends and myself on this excellent achievement in space research? We have all been aware, of course, that the British aeronautics and aircraft industry is second to none in quality; and that, if given enough encouragement and facilities, it could probably have achieved this very much earlier. Indeed, perhaps the Government could convey to the people concerned not merely congratulations but some gratitude, because they have converted a grave error of Government defence policy into a very respectable achievement in space research.

Will the Minister now give us some further indication of the Government's intentions with regard to this launcher development? First, what further steps are being taken to deal with our commitments to E.L.D.O.? Secondly, will he state what consideration he has given to having a purely British launcher development organisation? Now that we have in Blue Streak a successful first stage, and in Black Knight an already proven second stage, it is merely a matter of producing a third stage launcher for us to have an entirely British launcher development. Can the right hon. Gentleman give some idea of what he intends to do about those two points—the European Launcher Development Organisation, and also a purely British development?

Mr. Amery

Our formal commitment at the present time is to the completion of the first E.L.D.O. programme, and this will not be completed until 1966. At the time of speaking, our plans are to concentrate on E.L.D.O. and to use this as the main organisation for the building of launchers, along with our European partners.

The hon. Gentleman is quite right in pointing out that, with the successful launching of Blue Streak and our experience already acquired with Black Knight, we are well on the way to having a national capability, if we choose to develop it. But it may be that for financial and other reasons there is more advantage in continuing on the basis of E.L.D.O. That is our policy.

I will, naturally—and I am sure that I shall speak, not only for the hon. Gentleman and for the Government, but for the whole House—convey the sense of what the hon. Gentleman has said with our congratulations to the teams on the spot.

Mr. Neave

In joining the hon. Member for Loughborough (Mr. Cronin) in the warmest congratulations on this very significant technical achievement, may I ask my right hon. Friend, following the hon. Gentleman's remarks on this point, whether plans exist for a follow-up vehicle to Blue Streak, in view of the fact that experience in the Soviet Union and the United States shows that larger boosters are more economic than a large number of smaller ones? Have the Government, in the need to encourage our scientists, any plans for the investigation of advanced means of space propulsion, that is to say, through atomic or electrical power?

Mr. Amery

As I think my hon. Friend knows, we have been doing a great deal of research into rocket motors, and some of this was made public, I think, the day before yesterday. We have not, as yet, got so far as thinking of a successor to Blue Streak—we wanted, first, to establish clearly that we had the right technology to get Blue Streak to work. As it now has worked, we shall, of course, be considering, both in E.L.D.O. and our own establishments, what future programmes may be required after the first E.L.D.O. programme has been completed.

Mr. Grimond

I, too, would like to be associated with the congratulations to those who took part in this project. The Minister said in his original statement that all systems seemed to have operated as planned, and then went on to say that there must be much fuller investigation. He also said that the point of impact was 300 miles from the target. Does that mean that there may have been some cause for this outside the system—that it has possibly something to do with the atmosphere—or that there must be at this stage some fault in the system that has not been discovered?

Mr. Amery

It is possible that I created the wrong impression in the right hon. Gentleman's mind. What I actually said was that, as far as was known, all systems operated as planned, but that the thrust was terminated. I meant by that, with the exception of thrust, which was terminated at 147 seconds instead of 153 seconds. This is not of major importance, I think, because this is not a ballistic missile any longer, where the impact point is important. What is important is the altitude achieved, and the boost it will give to the second stage, and I do not think that either of these would be affected by the earlier termination.

Sir J. Eden

Does not this launching of the largest space vehicle outside the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. reflect great credit on the space department of the R.A.E. at Farnborough and on the rocket staff of Hawker Siddeley and Rolls-Royce? Is not this a most important milestone in the development and growth of the British aerospace industry and also in the development of international scientific co-operation? I wonder whether my right hon. Friend could speculate how long it will be before the Leader of the Opposition condemns this as a "spurious essay in modernisation."

Mr. Speaker

Order. That does not arise from this statement. The rest of the hon. Gentleman's question did, but the—whatever it was—peroration to the question did not arise.

Mr. Amery

I think that this reflects the greatest credit on all those who took part both in the Government establishments and in industry. It is a milestone, because it does, for the first time, open the way for us to put an adequate payload into space.