Why are we not up there somewhere?

[#1]

Well done Israel for landing it's first moon mission spacecraft, but where is the UK in all of this as the world and his wife scramble into space and why are we not up there somewhere - even private enterprise is getting in on act. Time to dust off the Blue Streak rocket from the 1950's I reckon and see if it still works. After all, what could possibly go wrong.

[#2]

We built an empire on coal and trains !.... but both of those industries have died due to "economic circumstances"....

even our "modern" railway infrastructure is struggling to cope with getting people to work and back home.... 

what chance do we stand of getting a rocket to the moon... let alone getting people up there and brining them back ...

HS2 is grossly over budget... likewise the "Crossrail" tunnel railway... imagine what the budget would be for a GOV.UK rocket to the moon...

. and anway...

who would want to commute that far ?

[#3]

Haven't we thrown our lot in with the ESA? until the end of the month at any rate

[#4]

@shutter 

Our industry was built on coal and trains, empire was built on ruling the waves for two hundred years.

Why can we not replace those ships for the space kind? We certainly had the bottle to colonize the eastern seaboard of America and have the likes of Cook did the same in those southern oceans. As for private enterprise, that laid down the foundation for the British Raj in India. 

Then there was the Titantic. As said, what could possibly go wrong. 

[#5]

@dvorak 

Well we are partners in the ESA, but as we are still part of Europe does that have anything to do with the EU?

Still, the £300m we have paid out so far or is small beer compared to the £1bn plus we have contributed to the Galileo system they are now trying to exclude us from.

With friends like that eh?

[#6]

Not sure where it got but apparently "The political perspective of the European Union (EU) was to make ESA an agency of the EU by 2014,[70] although this date was not met. The EU is already the largest single donor to ESA's budget and non-ESA EU states are observers at ESA"

[#7]

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@Minivanman wrote:

@shutter 

Then there was the Titantic. As said, what could possibly go wrong. 

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The icebergs in space are called comets and move very fast!

Bearing in mind that politicians will do almost anything for a photo opportunity, could we not persuade the useless ones to join the maiden flight of our spacecraft, leaving the remaining half dozen to run the country?  We could do what budget airlines do, cheap outbound flight and a fortune for the return journey.