Britons back in the space race

Britain dropped out of the space race way before the finish line. Yet thanks to an unlikely group of amateur spacemen, we are closer than ever to charting a course to the stars. By Rob Sharp Wednesday, 16 July 2008 The British government bowed out of the space race three decades ago. Nowadays, it is the nation's entrepreneurs, often working on a shoestring budget, who are striving to touch the stars. But their small-scale efforts are no less significant. This pack of "back-shed" British celestial innovators is led by Steve Bennett from Manchester. In September next year, he is set to launch the biggest rocket ever flown in this country, the experiment being a waymark on the journey to realise his grand plan of putting tourists into space by 2013. "It's living the dream," says Bennett, 44. "It's become an obsession and a... [read full story]