The case for space

HARD on the heels of a memorandum giving strong arguments for a bigger British share in world spaceflight development issued by the National Industrial Space Committee, which is a joint committee for the S.B.A.C., the Electronic Engineering Association, and the Telecommunication Engineering and Manufacturing Association, has come the decision by the Government to withdraw from the European Launcher Development Organization (Eldo). This decision is bound to have a most damaging effect on our European partners, and may well cause them to question whether we are suitable partners for collaboration in the aerospace field. The Government must be satisfied that we are justified in law in withdrawing from a programme before its end, in which we had agreed to participate, but the move may well call into question our good faith in any future international agreements, and it will be difficult to blame our potential partners in Europe if they are somewhat sceptical of our intentions in the future.