Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 8 2007: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 10:58, 14 July 2007

Revision as of 06:26, 17 April 2010

Line 2:

<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Blackarrow.jpg|100px|Launch of a Black Arrow rocket]] -->

</div>

'''Black Arrow''' was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[satellite]] [[carrier rocket]], based on the [[Black Knight (rocket)|Black Knight]] and [[Blue Streak]] rockets. It was the first, and as of January 2007, only British rocket capable of placing a satellite into orbit. It was responsible for Britain's first indigenous satellite launch, [[Prospero X-3]], on [[28 October]] [[1971]], and was retired immediately after the launch. Black Arrow was the brainchild of British engineer [[John Scott-Scott]]. It was developed by the [[Royal Aircraft Establishment]] and built by [[Saunders-Roe]] on the [[Isle of Wight]]. Its [[rocket engine|engines]] were tested at [[The Needles]] before being launched at [[Woomera, South Australia|Woomera]] in [[Australia]]. The rocket used [[hydrogen peroxide]] oxidizer with [[RP-1]] fuel.

The cancellation of the Black Arrow project was announced in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] on [[29 July]] [[1971]] by the then [[Political minister|Minister]] for Aerospace, [[Frederick Corfield]], although permission was given for the final launch of R3 to take place after this date. The last vehicle, R4, was never launched, and may be seen on display at the [[Science Museum]], London.

The decision was taken on grounds of cost effectiveness; it was decided that using [[NASA]]'s solid fuel [[Scout (rocket)|Scout]] rocket for future launches would offer adequate performance at a lower cost. ('''[[Black Arrow|more...]]''')