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’s 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’s many national space organisations had rejected initial NASA proposals for participation in its follow-up programme. Its reworked – and more attractive – proposals envisaged a space shuttle, a space station and a “space tug” to ferry spacecraft parts around. Europe’s role in NASA’s plans was to develop the space tug.…
