We are not here to advocate for the arms industry or its CEOs, writes STEVE HANDFORD, and that means we must take a stand against the government’s spending on war
Space: what goes up might come down
ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and JOEL HELLEWELL look at how British space technology came to be run by private companies like Virgin, despite a strong start with the state-built Goonhilly Earth Station in the 1960s

LAST week, the anticipated launch of the first satellites from Spaceport Cornwall failed. The launch technology involves a modified Boeing 747 plane with a launcher rocket fired from its wing at 35,000 feet.
The rocket successfully ignited and left the wing over the Atlantic Ocean south-west of Ireland, but an “anomaly” with the second-stage engine meant the satellites were lost with the rocket.
The launch had been heavily anticipated as a key moment for the British space industry. Though it may be entertaining to enjoy the public failure of a company associated with Richard Branson, that shouldn’t obscure the fact that this attempt was a part of a dramatic shift currently under way in space transport.
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