Plan to send all-UK astronaut mission into orbit

An all-British mission to space could be happening soon, as an American company that organises visits to the International Space Agency is developing a plan to send four UK astronauts. 

Houston-based Axiom has signed a memorandum of understanding with the UK Space Agency to try to make it happen.

The project could cost £200m or more but the idea is that it would be funded commercially – meaning the UK taxpayer won’t be footing the bill. 

The last UK individual to go into orbit was Tim Peake, who flew to the USS as a European Space Agency (Esa) astronaut in 2015.

“This is an exciting opportunity and actually unique,” he commented.

“No-one has done a ‘national mission’, commercially, like this before. It’s a new model and would be paving the way for how we do space in the future.”