DEAN ARNETT looks at the county's intriguing contribution to the age of space travel 
A Blue Streak rocket takes off |
Britain was once in line to be home to the busiest spaceport in the world, and our answer to Cape Canaveral could have been, of all places, on the North Norfolk coast. Only 40 years ago Britain had a thriving space rocket programme. Three separate vehicles were under development - Blue Streak, the by-then mothballed missile for delivering atomic warheads to Russia, Black Knight and Black Arrow rockets. Whilst development went on, a search began for a possible launch site. Three places were eventually short listed. The Outer Hebrides came third, loosing out because of poor accessibility and unpredictable weather. Next under consideration was Woomera in Australia. This site seemed ideal, but was obviously a long way from home. North Norfolk is first choice  Nicholas Hill, space historian |
The preferred site was at Brancaster in North Norfolk. Space historian Nicholas Hill has researched the thinking behind the Royal Aircraft Establishment's apparently unlikely choice. "It was fairly close, it was convenient," he said. "If you launched from Norfolk then you had a clear run over the North Sea and over the polar icecap, and they thought this would be an ideal site." Brancaster was relatively near Hatfield, Stevenage and London, all important centres in the British Space Industry, and yet offered enough remote land for support equipment and buildings for launches of satellite-carrying rockets. Previously top secret plans dating back to 1966 show the flight path of the rockets. The plans have only recently been released to the public. secret plans>>> | 
