Black Arrow

On 28 October 1971, Black Arrow R3 lifted off from Launch Area 5B at Woomera and placed the Prospero satellite into orbit. The satellite was named Prospero after the character in Shakespeare’s The Tempest — the name chosen as a reference to events in the play, in which Prospero, a sorcerer, gives up his powers. The symbolism was pointed. Britain had just cancelled its independent launch capability. The rocket that made the UK the sixth nation to independently orbit a satellite was making its first and only successful flight on the same day its programme no longer existed.

Prospero is still in orbit. It will remain there for centuries. The programme that built it lasted four launches and three years. The final unflown Black Arrow — R4, never launched — is preserved in the Science Museum in London. Britain would not attempt another indigenous orbital launcher for over fifty years, a consequence of choosing to rely on American rockets instead, a decision made on economic grounds that NASA had once offered to make unnecessary by launching British payloads for free, an offer withdrawn when the cancellation was announced.

No:     Serial  Type                    Date          LS          Payload

 1      R-0     Black Arrow (2 stage)   29.06.1969 F  Wo LA-5B  * (R&D)
 2      R-1     Black Arrow (2 stage)   04.03.1970    Wo LA-5B  * (R&D)
 3      R-2     Black Arrow             02.09.1970 F  Wo LA-5B    Orba (X 2) / R-2 Instrument Package
 4      R-3     Black Arrow             28.10.1971    Wo LA-5B    Prospero (X 3)


Failures:

Flight 1:       control lost after 50 sec
Flight 3:       Stage 2 produces insufficient thrust


Launch sites:

Wo  =    Woomera Instrumented Range, Woomera, South Australia, Australia   


F	Failure
*	Suborbital