Space Needles

Staycation Day 4: A Ticket to Ryde (and beyond)

The rocks in the background are familiar - The Needles on the Isle of Wight - but why the ugly concrete bunker in the foreground?

As concrete bunkers go, this is a particularly historic one. The Needles New Battery was, from the end of the Second World War through to 1972, where Britain ran its space programme. Many rockets were tested here, including the Black Arrow, which was used to launch the satellite Prospero into orbit in 1971 - the only all-British satellite launched using an all-British rocket. It's still up there, pinging away.

Britain had a lead in space technology for a few years after the war. But the whole programme was cancelled in 1971, apparently on cost grounds.

Not much up there these days except bunkers and concrete. The last Black Arrow and a spare Prospero are in the Science Museum.

To finish off my Space Day I'm going to watch a few episodes of the adventures of that great leader of the fictional British Rocket Group, Bernard Quatermass.