50 years of space science at Leicester

Leicester Mercury cuttings on related space matters

1965 One of the largest meteorites seen to fall in Britain lands at Barwell on
(Dec) Christmas Eve. Subsequent examination suggested it originated in the
‘asteroid belt’ between Jupiter and Mars, and is part of the debris of a ‘failed
planet’.

1968 Apollo 8 successfully orbits the Moon setting the stage for the first Moon
(Dec) landing. A by-product is the historic picture of the ‘blue-green’ Earth
seen above the lunar horizon.

1969 Apollo 11 achieves the first Moon landing. Live broadcast of the landing
(21 July) was watched by 600 million people around the world.

1969 Kettering Grammar School team continue their remarkable success in
tracking Soviet satellites with the spaceship Cosmos 297.

1970 Moon dust returned by Apollo 12 is sent to Loughborough University for
analysis. They find tiny glass beads which are interpreted as evidence of heating
by meteoric impact.

1970 The world watches as Apollo 13 is brought safely to Earth after an
(April) explosion damaged power and oxygen supplies in their spacecraft en route
to the Moon.

1971 An exhibition of space hardware developed at the University tours village
libraries in North Leicestershire (a small preview of the NSC, to come 30
years later!).

1972 A Leicester firm of consulting engineers win a contract with the European
Space Research Organisation to provide more precise control of space
rockets.

1973 The first manned space science mission carries out detailed observations
of the Sun from the Apollo Telescope Mount, attached to Skylab.
Leicester University scientists assist in the mission.

1973 The US NOAA-satellite provides the first global observations of the
Earth at night-time using infrared cameras.

1973 Pioneer 10 flies close to Jupiter after a 2-year voyage deeper into space
(Nov) than any other man-made object.
(In 2001 Pioneer 10 became the first man-made object to pass beyond the
heliosphere and into interstellar space).

1974 The European Space Agency (ESA) is formed to give Europe a
capability for competing with the USA in space research. UK Minister
for Technology, Michael Heseltine, is a prime mover.

1976 NASA’s Viking spacecraft lands on Mars to carry out the first search for
(July) evidence of life.
(In 2003 the British Beagle 2 mission will continue that search, using more
sophisticated equipment).

1981 The US Space Shuttle, Columbia, has its maiden 36-orbit flight. Margaret
(April) Thatcher sends her congratulations to President Reagan.

1983 University astronomers discover 2 comets and an asteroid using infra-red
detectors on board the Dutch/UK/US IRAS satellite.

1983 Pioneer 10 passes by Neptune, now 11 years into a journey through the
solar system.

1984 Leicester Mercury invites readers to suggest tokens from Leicestershire to be
taken into space by astronaut Jeff Hoffman in his forthcoming flight on the
US Space Shuttle.

1985 Dr Jeff Hoffman, former researcher at the University, makes his first flight
(12 April) on board the US Space Shuttle Discovery, taking several mementos from
Leicester into orbit. These include a pennant from the Lord Mayor’s Rolls
Royce, a beer mat from the Wheel Inn in Oadby and two union jack flags.

1985 Jeff Hoffman and fellow astronaut David Griggs undertake an unplanned
(17 April) 3-hour spacewalk in an attempt to rescue an 85 million dollar communications
satellite.

1985 Halley’s comet makes its scheduled re-appearance in the night sky over
Leicester, the first time since 1910 (when thousands watched from Victoria
Park – reported in the Leicester Daily Mercury of 23 May 1910).

1986 US Space Shuttle Challenger is destroyed in an explosion shortly after
(28 Jan) launch from Kennedy Space Centre. All 7 on board are killed, including the
first civilian to fly on the Shuttle, history teacher Christa McAuliffe.

1986 UK Government sets up British National Space Centre to lead an increased
effort in space research. KP on Management Board.

1988 Secretary of State for Education Kenneth Baker visits the University to formally
(Oct) launch plans for the Leicester Centre for Space Science.

1990 Hubble Telescope put into orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery and hailed as
(April) the most important advance in optical astronomy since Galileo.

1990 38 undergraduates enrol at the University on Britain’s first degree course
(Oct) specialising in Space Science and Technology. The course was over-
subscribed sevenfold and is co-sponsored by leading companies including
British Aerospace, Marconi and Logica.

1991 Helen Sharman, a chemistry graduate from Sheffield, becomes the first
(18 May) Britain in space, when she is launched in a Soyuz capsule from the Baikonur
cosmodrome en route to Russia’s MIR space station.
(Dr Sharman reported on her experiences at a space conference in Leicester
on 17 November 1991. In 1998 she became a Trustee of the NSC, resigning
recently to start a family and new career).

1992 Images of the Big Bang radiation are published by NASA, based on data
from the COBE satellite. These ‘echoes’ of structures in the Early Universe,
from which the present-day stars and galaxies are formed, are hailed as a
major breakthrough in cosmology. Stephen Hawking speaks of ‘seeing the face
of God’.

1993 Jeff Hoffman takes part in the most important spacewalk yet
(Dec) in an attempt to correct the out-of-focus Hubble Telescope. Watching the Space
Shuttle Endeavour launch from Cape Canaveral was Tim Davies, a scout from
The 1st Leicestershire Claybrook and Ullesthorpe Group, whose necktie was
taken into orbit by Dr Hoffman.

1994 First images from the repaired Hubble Telescope delight astronomers, showing
(Jan) the corrections made by Jeff Hoffman and fellow astronaut Stacey Musgrave
to have been a great success.

1994 The University Space Research Centre (first announced in 1988 by Education
Minister Kenneth Baker) finally gets the go-ahead.

KAP appointed as CEO of new Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council.

Queen’s Anniversary Prize to Physics and Astronomy Department for ‘world class teaching, research and consultancy programme in astronomy, space and planetary science’.

1994 Astronaut Jeff Hoffman re-visits Leicester, to present a local scout group with
(Feb) a necktie flown on his recent Space Shuttle mission, and to give an illustrated
lecture at the University on his spacewalk to repair the Hubble Telescope.

1994 Leicester is in the running for the first Challenger Learning Centre outside of the
USA. The Challenger Centres were founded by the families of the astronauts
who died in the Space Shuttle accident in 1996.

1995 The University makes an outline bid to the Millennium Commission for funds
(April) to build a Visitor Centre to illustrate the benefits and excitement of space
research.

1995 Leicester City Council agree to join with the University and City Challenge in
(Nov) bidding for lottery funding to build a National Space Science Centre on a site
near Leicester City football ground.

Not from Leicester Mercury

1996 Work starts on the University Space Research Centre, now identified as a £2.5 million component of the National Space Science Centre project.

1997 The Millennium Commission support the Leicester bid as the East Midlands
landmark Project and agree in principle to provide £23.25 million towards the
cost of the National Space Science Centre.

1998 The University Space Research Centre is opened by the Minister for Science,
(April) John Battle.

1998 London architects Nicholas Grimshaw are chosen to design the National Space Science Centre, and the Abbey Meadows site is donated by Severn Trent
Water and the City Council.

1999 The Challenger Learning Centre, now to be part of the National Space Science
(Oct) Centre, opens early on the Wyggeston-Queen Elizabeth College site.

2000 The first data from XMM-Newton delight scientists at the University Science
(Jan) Centre, which will be responsible for all initial data reduction before relay to
astronomers around the world.

2000 Funding is secured for the £30 million Beagle 2 mission to Mars.
(Aug) Beagle 2 will be attached to ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft when launched in
June 2003, reaching the red planet in December. Beagle 2, carrying instruments
under construction in the University Space Research Centre, will then be separated
from the main spacecraft, to land on the Martian surface and carry out a search for
evidence of extinct or extant life.

2001 The Challenger Learning Centre is closed to prepare for its move to Abbey
(Feb) Meadows, having been visited by over 10 thousand schoolchildren.