This is really a question for British astronomers and space-enthusiasts, or those knowledgeable about British involvement in spaceflight (I hesitate to call it a space programme).
I recall a while back, perhaps October last year, that the Royal Astronomical Society had commissioned a three-man independent panel to report on the advisability of continuing the current UK policy ban on funding manned spaceflight - which, amongst other things, makes us the only major EU country to not have members in ESA's astronaut corps.
Does anybody know what the response to that report was by the government? Has it been adopted as a policy or does it seem to have gome the same way as hundreds of other reports that never seem to garner a response?
On top of that, does anybody know generally the probabilities and current standing behind a lift on the UK policy ban?
While personally I'm heavily, heavily in favour of emphasis on robotic, umanned, science-heavy missions - I'd still like a British astronaut to accompany any future ESA mission to the Moon or Mars. I'm very glad we have no involvement in the ISS - what an albatross - but it seems to reflect very badly on the country that the only British astronauts have had to enter space under the flag of another country.
Any comments or answers for me?
