WHEN NASA tried to recruit European countries into its post-Apollo space programme 30 years ago, the bid backfired, newly released British government documents reveal. Instead, NASA鈥檚 bid ensured the US would soon have a powerful pan-European rival: the European Space Agency.
In the wake of the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969, Europe鈥檚 many national space organisations had rejected initial NASA proposals for participation in its follow-up programme. Its reworked 鈥� and more attractive 鈥� proposals envisaged a space shuttle, a space station and a 鈥渟pace tug鈥� to ferry spacecraft parts around. Europe鈥檚 role in NASA鈥檚 plans was to develop the space tug.
Initially, the British government saw this as an opportunity to gain American know-how for its fledgling aerospace industry. Trade and industry secretary John Davies told the cabinet in March 1972 that 鈥渨ork on the space tug autopilot鈥� was of particular interest and that British firms like Hawker Siddeley, which built the Harrier jump jet, could expect valuable contracts and gain expertise.
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But the Treasury didn鈥檛 share his enthusiasm. 鈥淭here was little doubt that the US regarded European participation mainly as a means of sharing the high costs of the programme, which they had undertaken to relieve unemployment in their own aerospace industries,鈥� treasury chief secretary Maurice Macmillan objected. Despite these objections, Davies persuaded the cabinet in March 1972 to back participation in pilot studies.
By July, however, cutbacks in the US space programme 鈥� attributed in the British documents (see ) to the pressures of Richard Nixon鈥檚 presidential re-election campaign 鈥� had caused the space tug to be dropped. Even Michael Heseltine, the newly appointed aerospace minister, could then no longer support the programme. 鈥淚t is now clear that the only work available for Europe is some 拢40 million of subcontracting on the orbiter part of the shuttle,鈥� he wrote. 鈥淭he Americans are willing to see Europe undertake this work because they think it is largely within the competence of existing European technology. Access to new American technology would be limited.鈥�
Heseltine, however, seized the opportunity to salvage something from the debacle. He told the cabinet: 鈥淎 new initiative was needed because European space technology, which was only one-tenth the size of the US effort, was badly fragmented.鈥� He proposed 鈥渁 reconstitution of European space organisations鈥o explore the possibilities of integrating national space programmes.鈥�
The cabinet backed his proposal, which he took to that summer鈥檚 ministerial European Space Conference. The conference adopted Heseltine鈥檚 plan to create a single European space organisation in December 1972. And the agreement to set up the European Space Agency was finally signed in May 1975.