Ariel 1, the fIrst British satellite, reached orbit 50 years ago. The U.K. Space Agency, on the other hand, is only about 2 years old. A small executive agency of the British central government, it employs about 40 people on an annual budget of about $400 million. It was cobbled together from the various pockets of the central government that once contributed funds to the now-defunct British National Space Council.
展开▼
