Black Arrow Rocket | When Britain joined the Space Race

Britain’s space race efforts were bold but short-lived.    

Join historian Helen Antrobus for the tale of Britain’s space race.
It’s the mid 1950’s and the height of the Cold War era.
British engineers are working in secret at The Needles on the Isle of Wight, testing a nuclear deterrent, the Black Knight Rocket.
But by the end of the 1960s the British rocket programme is under threat. Engineers have one last chance to get into space with the ambitious Black Arrow Rocket.
Can Britain reach the stars or will it fail to launch?
 
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Production
Presenter: Helen Antrobus
Producer and sound designer: Nikki Ruck

Contributors 
Paul Carey
Steve Berden
Doug Millard

Cast
Jesse Edbrooke – voice of Ray Wheeler
In memory of Ray Wheeler 1927-2019 
With thanks to NASA

Discover more
Discover more about the secrets behind Highdown test site visit  The New Battery at The Needles

Find out more about the history of Black Knight, Black Arrow and Prospero rockets
Wight Aviation Museum

See the Black Arrow Rocket itself https://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visit

Discover more podcasts
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/discover/virtual-visit/podcasts#stories-about-nature-and-history

If you'd like to get in touch with feedback, or have a story connected with the National Trust, you can contact us at [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

DOUG MILLARD (00:37):
It all started in 1957. The Soviet Union launched
the first artificial satellitecalled Sputnik. Within 12 years,
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrinwere walking on the moon. But

(01:01):
there were other things going onat the time which we don't hear
so much about.

HELEN ANTROBUS (01:05):
The Cold War isn't just a time of fear and
uncertainty. It's also an era ofambition, ingenuity and
determination. Britain isstepping into a high stakes race
to the stars. But what role doesa popular seaside tourist
attraction play in this story?And how did it all begin? This

(01:25):
is the story of when Britainjoined the Space Race.
Have you ever imagined being afly on the wall of history? Join
me for an insider view of thestories of people, places and
moments that made us. I'mhistorian Helen Antrobus. Lean

(01:50):
in for a tale from time backwhen.
Our story starts in 1954. At thewesternmost tip of the Isle Of
Wight, where three limestonestacks, known as The Needles,
rise dramatically from the sea.Perched high above Scratchell's

(02:12):
Bay stands the New Battery atHighdown. Built in the 1890s,
this military gunning point onceplayed a vital role in Britain's
defences. But after 60 years ofservice, the guns have been
removed. The MOD departs and theNew Battery has met. Its fate.

(02:34):
By now, Britain is caught in themiddle of the Cold War, a tense
geopolitical standoff betweenthe United States and the Soviet
Union, overshadowed by thethreat of nuclear conflict. As
tensions rise, the superpowersrace to dominate the skies,
using the advanced V2 rockettechnology pioneered by Nazi

(02:55):
Germany during the Second WorldWar. Determined not to be left
behind. Britain develops BlueStreak, a missile capable of
carrying nuclear warheads over1,500 miles. But before missiles
can be effective, they mustsurvive re-entry through the
Earth's atmosphere. And this iswhere the Black Knight test

(03:16):
rocket comes in. Unlike BlueStreak, it isn't built for war,
but designed to study whathappens to the payload, the
nuclear warhead, when it'slaunched
In 1956, under a shroud ofsecrecy, Britain starts its
journey towards the stars, andthe New Battery at high down
roars back into life. Across theisland in Cowes, a local

(03:41):
aeronautical engineering companyis chosen to build the Black
Knight Rocket.

PAUL CAREY (03:48):
Britain at that time was developing nuclear power and
wanted to have a way ofdelivering high explosive
warheads. My name's Paul Careyand we're at the White Aviation
Museum on the Isle Of Wight. Oneof the big companies was
Saunders, later became SaundersRoe. Saunders started making

(04:11):
gondolas for airships.
After the Second World War,Saunders Roe diversed into
building helicopters and alsolooked at rocket power for
developing missiles. They didsome experiments into this. They
built rockets at Cowes, testedthem at The Needles, and then
shipped them to Australia andlaunched them.

HELEN ANTROBUS (04:35):
But just how do you go about keeping a rocket
like Black Knight under wraps?High Down, with its isolated
cliffs and ready-madefortifications, became the
perfect hidden site for testingthe Black Knight Rocket.
Security is intense. Policeofficers guard the doorways.
Alsatian dogs prowl theperimeter and secrecy shrouds

(04:58):
every operation. The High Downtest site spans 35 acres and is
divided into two zones forsafety, the preparation area and
the firing area. There areequipment rooms, storage
facilities, laboratories andeven a staff canteen.
Now, decades later, only theweathered concrete firing

(05:20):
gantries and the undergroundcontrol rooms remain. Volunteer
Steve Berden takes us inside.

STEVE BERDEN (05:29):
As you can see, you've got... A big iron door.
So this big iron door wasinstalled on the front of the
magazine for protection in caseany of the missiles exploded or
there was a fire.
So we're now entering thecontrol room one, which is a
brick construction from the1890s, built underground for

(05:51):
protection against anybombardment. But obviously now
it's been reutilized by SaundersRow as their control rooms.

HELEN ANTROBUS (06:00):
One of the engineers who worked here at
Highdown is Ray Wheeler. He isresponsible for testing the
rockets made on site. In a 2011interview for Island Life
magazine, he shared a glimpse ofwhat it was like to be at
Highdown.

ACTOR (06:13):
The rocket head gets very hot and has to protect the
weapon inside. So basically wewere testing the nose cone. We
tested all sorts of shapes anddifferent materials before we
thought we'd got it right.

STEVE BERDEN (06:25):
So in this room you would find lots of control
gear. Early computer equipmentand from here they would be able
to monitor the activity of therockets while they were in their
gantries being tested.

HELEN ANTROBUS (06:38):
In April 1957 the team at Highdown hold their
breath as they stage the firststatic firing of a Black Knight
Rocket.
The test rocket stands tall onone of the two concrete gantries
positioned 130 meters below theclifftop.

STEVE BERDEN (06:58):
The views are amazing. You can't see anything
in land because we are in thisnatural hollow. So when the test
firings were going on, the smokeand the vapour would head down
the bowl and out to sea andwouldn't be seen by anyone.

HELEN ANTROBUS (07:16):
For the crew working on site, the landscape
isn't just picturesque, it'spractical. The hollow acts as
natural acoustic shielding,muffling the deafening roar of
the rocket engines andminimising the risk of flying
debris.

STEVE BERDEN (07:30):
When the rockets were assembled, they would be
brought by truck down this rampto get to either end of the
gantries.

HELEN ANTROBUS (07:38):
Here, engineers clad in protective suits and
glass-fronted helmets work withmeticulous precision, using
hoists to lift the rocket intoplace within the towering
60-foot gantries.

STEVE BERDEN (07:50):
And it would be fixed to the concrete via those
metal pads.

HELEN ANTROBUS (07:54):
For lead engineer Ray Wheeler, the test
firings were... Particularlynerve-wracking.

ACTOR (07:59):
At the base of the rocket's first stage sat a metal
ball held in place by ahydraulic clamp. If that clamp
had failed, Southampton mighthave found itself with a rocket
heading its way.

STEVE BERDEN (08:11):
We descend these steps down into the pump house.
So up on the top of High Downwould be a reservoir around
about 30,000 gallons.

ACTOR (08:20):
People mistakenly thought that all that smoke
coming out was from the rocket,but it wasn't. It was actually
water being poured onto thevehicle to keep it cool.

STEVE BERDEN (08:31):
We are in this fully armoured, very well built
observer room. Protection againfrom a very big, thick steel
blast door in case anything goeswrong. You can see the little
holes in the wall where thelittle glass windows are with
iron armoured plating. So thescientists and observers can see

(08:52):
exactly what's going on.

HELEN ANTROBUS (08:54):
The static firings simulate every aspect of
a launch, except for liftoff,ensuring that all systems are
operational before the rocketsare transported to Woomera,
Australia, a remote outbacklocation chosen in case anything
goes wrong.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Unionmakes history, taking the world

(09:16):
by surprise. On October 4th,1957, Moscow Radio announces the
successful launch of Sputnik 1.The first nation to put a
satellite into space. It's notuntil the following year, in
1958, that America catches upand launches their own
satellite, Explorer 1.

(09:39):
But despite these groundbreakingachievements across the world,
the outlook for Britain's voyageinto rocket development looks
bleak. On April 13, 1960, duringa cabinet meeting at Downing
Street, Prime Minister HaroldMacmillan announces the
cancellation of Britain'smissile programme. Spiralling
costs and safety concerns promptthe government to adopt American

(10:03):
missile systems for nucleardeterrence.
However, there's a glimmer ofhope on the horizon. Later in
the year, at a pivotal meeting,scientists propose an ambitious
new direction to repurpose someof this British rocket
technology towards spaceresearch.

ACTOR (10:21):
There is little doubt that space research is opening a
new field of human endeavourwith significant commercial,
military, scientific andtechnological implications.

HELEN ANTROBUS (10:35):
This decision changes everything. The Black
Knight Rocket is given a newrole, still for the military,
but as a platform for testingtelecommunication and satellite
technologies. So the engineersresume their work at High Down,
building and testing the BlackKnight Rocket until the final
launch at Woomera, Australia inNovember 1965.

(10:58):
Paul Carey at the White AviationMuseum.

PAUL CAREY (11:01):
They built 25 of the... Black Knight rockets.
They launched 22 of themsuccessfully and they did that
within budget and withinschedule, something that no
other rocket programme hasachieved either one of those and
they did all of them.

HELEN ANTROBUS (11:21):
By this time Britain still hasn't sent
anything into orbit but what ithas done is gain invaluable
expertise in rocket technology,laying the groundwork for any
future space programmes.
As the 1960s unfold and theSpace Race between the US and
the USSR grips the world,plants, dogs and people are sent

(11:43):
into orbit. This is the era ofStanley Kubrick's 2001 A Space
Odyssey and David Bowie's SpaceOddity, where space isn't just
science, it's popular culture.But while the Americans and
Soviets are busy strappinghumans into rockets, Britain
takes a different approach.

(12:03):
In 1965, they roll out their ownspace ambitions with a bigger,
better rocket, codenamed BlackArrow, this time with the
capability of sending Britain'sfirst satellite into orbit. Yet
for the team on the Isle OfWight, the odds were stacked
against them, with setbacks onlaunch days, government funding

(12:24):
cuts, and the sheer challenge ofcompeting with the space
superpowers.
So what did it really take forBritain to reach the stars? To
uncover the answer, I've come toa place where the history of
British engineering andinnovation is brought to life,
the Science Museum in SouthKensington. I'm meeting Doug

(12:47):
Millard, a curator with alifelong fascination into space.
Hello, you must be Doug.

DOUG MILLARD (12:54):
Yes, I am. Hello.

HELEN ANTROBUS (12:55):
It's so nice to meet you. I believe you are the
person to talk to about allthings Black Arrow and Britain's
role in the Space Race.

DOUG MILLARD (13:02):
Well, this museum's chock-a-block full of
wonderful things, but I thinkBlack Arrow is one of my
favourite.

HELEN ANTROBUS (13:08):
What made you interested in space in the first
place?

DOUG MILLARD (13:12):
Well, in the first place, I'm old enough to
remember the Apollo programme,so I watched it on television.
You know, I was about 11 yearsold, so there are very few
people around the world whoweren't watching the moon
landings.
But then, of course, Apollofinished. That is the end of an
era. Then I got a job at theScience Museum in the Education
Department and ended up workingwith the Space Collection. So it

(13:35):
was rather unplanned.

HELEN ANTROBUS (13:36):
Unplanned, but sounds like the perfect job.

DOUG MILLARD (13:39):
I mean, space in its own right is fascinating,
but it's the way in which weexplore space. So it's actually
about us. It's about the humaningenuity, spirit,
inquisitiveness. The ability tobuild technologies which can
take us beyond this ratherwonderful planet that we live
on.

HELEN ANTROBUS (13:59):
As we step into the darkened gallery, the walls
painted midnight blue to mimicthe night sky, I'm hit by a wave
of noise and movement.
Doug, you've brought me into theexploring space gallery and you
can't help but look up. I cansee rockets and engines.

DOUG MILLARD (14:15):
Well, you're quite right. We've got a few rockets
here. That long thin one, that'san American rocket. It's called
Scout. But then over there wecan see some rocket engines. Now
the biggest one was used on theApollo Saturn V rocket, which
was much, much bigger than BlackArrow. And then over here we
look at what we put on tops ofrockets, apart from astronauts,

(14:36):
and we're standing underneath aBlack Arrow Rocket.

HELEN ANTROBUS (14:40):
And there it is, in all its glory, suspended from
the ceiling above us, the BlackArrow Rocket. It's really
impossible not to feel a senseof awe standing beneath it.

DOUG MILLARD (14:51):
We mentioned the Apollo program which used an
enormous rocket as tall as St.Paul's Cathedral in London. But
this Black Arrow Rocket we'restanding beneath was far, far
smaller. It was something thatwas not as well known as Apollo
at the time.

HELEN ANTROBUS (15:06):
It's incredible to have it over your head. It's
quite daunting, actually. Imean, you say it's small. It
doesn't feel small when you'restanding under it.
At 30 metres long, with itssilver-white body and its
distinctive red nose, it's nowonder Black Arrow is
affectionately known as theLipstick Rocket.

DOUG MILLARD (15:21):
Now, the Black Arrow Rocket used to be sitting
on the floor. And that's when westarted to talk to the guys from
the Isle Of Wight who built therockets. All retired.

HELEN ANTROBUS (15:31):
In 2000, the engineers from the Black Arrow
Program were invited to theScience Museum for a very
special task, to help take apartand suspend the rocket from the
ceiling.

DOUG MILLARD (15:42):
We were dealing with quite a few of the original
team, but Ray Wheeler was incharge of Black Arrow Programme
and Black Knight. And then JimScrag, he also worked on the
Black Knight and the Black Arrowprogrammes.

HELEN ANTROBUS (15:56):
For many of them, it had been nearly 30
years since they had last seenand worked on a Black Arrow
Rocket.

DOUG MILLARD (16:03):
So one of the questions we needed to ask the
team, was it safe to hang therocket from the ceiling and then
would we be able to separate thestages? Of course, a lot of
their memories came back to themwhen they were playing with
their baby.

HELEN ANTROBUS (16:17):
After all, this wasn't just any rocket. It was a
Black Arrow Rocket.

DOUG MILLARD (16:22):
So that's what we see now. We have really a living
diagram of how a rocket usesmore than one stage to save
weight and to accelerate and getfaster and faster and faster,
which actually accelerates thesatellite, which is the bit that
matters, to orbital velocity,which is 17,500 miles per hour.

HELEN ANTROBUS (16:42):
And that was the ultimate aim for crew members
like Ray and Jim, who spenttheir days on the Isle Of Wight
building and testing the BlackArrow Rocket. To successfully
launch a British satellite intospace.
But all the hard work at highdown was just the beginning. The
real test came on launch day.Half a world away, in the

(17:03):
sweltering heat of theAustralian outback, the team
gathered at Woomera, a remotetest site where success was
anything but guaranteed.

DOUG MILLARD (17:12):
You were out in the Australian outback, so it
was very hot, and you did haveto wait for any passing wind.
Wind was a problem because itmight push the rocket off
course. Then there'd be thecountdown, and then you would
see not a great deal because theflames that came out of the
Black Arrow rockets were veryclean, and you'd have had a lot
of dust.

HELEN ANTROBUS (17:33):
And that dust may have caused the failure of
the first launch on the 28th ofJune 1969.

DOUG MILLARD (17:40):
Dirt and grit got caught up in the rocket
chambers, and they kind of wentto gimbal lock, so that's why
the first rocket failed. Andthat was 1969. The second launch
was 1970, which was successful,but it didn't have a satellite
on board, but at leastdemonstrated the rocket worked.
The third launch was also in1970, and unfortunately that

(18:03):
failed for a different reason.
There was a leak in thepressurisation system, so if the
pressure is not sufficientlyhigh, you lose thrust. And if
you lose thrust, you won't getup to the necessary velocity.
And that's exactly whathappened, there was a leak
somewhere. So it didn't carry ongoing up. It kind of went, oh,

(18:25):
then back down and into theocean.

HELEN ANTROBUS (18:29):
One last chance remained. On October the 28th,
1971, the team at Woomerawatched as the Black Arrow stood
on the launch pad for the fourthand final time.

DOUG MILLARD (18:40):
Everything worked perfectly. The teams at the
launch site, they witnessed avery nice launch, the first
stage. They were tracking itwith cameras, Fancy things
called kinetheodolites, but theythen had to wait for a signal
from a ground station in Alaska.
When they heard that, they knewthat the satellite was in orbit

(19:03):
and was actually passing overthe extremity of North America.
So when that signal camethrough, the champagne corks
popped.

HELEN ANTROBUS (19:12):
After years of work, the Black Arrow Rocket had
finally achieved its goal. OnOctober 28, 1971, it
successfully carried theProspero satellite into orbit,
but the victory was bittersweet.

DOUG MILLARD (19:28):
The irony was that even before the successful
launch, the programme had beencancelled. Now, the political
mandarins had to decide whetherto cancel before or after this
one final launch attempt. Andthey thought, if we cancel
before, then we'll never know.If we let the launch go and is

(19:50):
successful, then at least weknow the rocket works and it
will have achieved something.One of the first nations to put
a satellite into orbit. Andthat's why I believe the
decision was taken.

HELEN ANTROBUS (20:02):
Was the mission a success?

DOUG MILLARD (20:04):
Fourth attempt, successful launch. That's pretty
impressive. The satellite itselfreturned valuable data on how to
build a better satellite. Thatwas the whole idea behind this
Black Arrow programme. And todaywe have a very successful
satellite industry. So Prosperois all part of that story.

HELEN ANTROBUS (20:26):
And incredibly, Prospero is still orbiting Earth
today. Though its onboard taperecorder stopped working just
two years after the launch in1973, experts predict it won't
re-enter Earth's atmosphereuntil 2070, 100 years after its
launch.
The High Down test site finallyclosed its doors in 1972,

(20:46):
donating the R4 Black Arrowrocket to the Science Museum,
the very one that Doug and Ihave been standing under today.
And while this might feel likethe end of the story, Doug has
one more thing to show me.
Nestled amongst the artefacts inthe display cabinet are two
small Airfix models, a Saturn Vrocket and a lunar module.

DOUG MILLARD (21:08):
There's the rocket and there's the rather strangely
coloured blue lunar surface withthe lunar module on top. The
insulation blanket, it'sBourneville plain chocolate
wrapper.

HELEN ANTROBUS (21:21):
These models were carefully assembled by a
young Doug Millard long beforehe ever saw a real rocket.

DOUG MILLARD (21:27):
And the reason they're here is because my
colleague... Was putting thiswalkway together. He was wanting
to convey the fact that Apollowas watched by kids on telly who
then went away and made modelkits.

HELEN ANTROBUS (21:42):
Doug never imagined that one of his
childhood heroes would one daysee them.

DOUG MILLARD (21:46):
We were down there by Apollo 10 a few years ago
doing some filming about space.The star of the show was getting
quite old, so I had to go andfetch him a stool. In doing
that, I said, Oh I can't resistthis, please, but I just want
you to look at this model whichI made a little before you

(22:07):
walked on the moon in 1972 onApollo 17. So Gene Cernan was
down there. I just had to say,look, it's all because of you.

HELEN ANTROBUS (22:18):
Thank you so much for giving all your time
and expertise.
As I prepare to leave, Doug sumsup the story of how Britain
joined the Space Race perfectly.

DOUG MILLARD (22:27):
It is a quintessentially British story,
and it rather disrupts thepublic image of space, which is
still predominantly American. SoI like the idea of the British
space age being put together onthis charming island off the

(22:47):
south coast of England. Verypicturesque, lots of history,
views. That's where theyactually built space rockets.
And that's juxtaposition ratherappeals to me.

HELEN ANTROBUS (23:02):
Thank you for listening to the very first
episode of Back When. I hopeyou've enjoyed it. Get new
stories as they're releasedevery other week by following us
on your podcast app. We wouldlove to hear from you. So please
get in touch with your ratingsand your reviews. I'll see you
next time. And if you fancyvisiting the Needles or any

(23:22):
other places mentioned in thisepisode. Then check out the
links in the show notes.