Countdown started for first orbital rocket launch from UK soil shetnews.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from shetnews.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
“Poyekhali!” Dressed in an oversized orange spacesuit and equally large white helmet, the initials CCCP stamped in red across the front, an unknown Russian air force pilot prepared to make history. It was the morning of 12 April 12, 1961, and moments earlier Yuri Gagarin had said his farewells to the gathered dignitaries and made the brief bus journey across the tarmac. Ahead of him, rising from the flat landscape of the Kazakhstan steppes, was a towering, shining rocket. Gagarin had only learned that he had been selected to become the first human being to orbit the earth three days earlier – even his wife and young family did not know what lay ahead.
Ten (random) things you may not know about space electronicsweekly.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from electronicsweekly.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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THE DECISION from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to turn down plans for the creation of a satellite launch site on the site of a former radar station in Unst has been criticised by a local councillor.
North Isles member Ryan Thomson, who is from Unst, said the decision is “nothing short of political, bureaucratic nonsense”.
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It emerged earlier this week that HES was not happy with Shetland Space Centre’s plans to build its proposed launch facility on the site of a WW2 radar base, saying it would have a significant adverse impact on the old RAF Skaw station.