Flying in Space

Piers Sellers talks about his most recent space flight, STS-132. The space shuttle Atlantis was launched to the International Space Station (ISS) with a crew of six on 14th May 2010. This was the third Shuttle flight for astronaut Piers Sellers who will describe how after docking with the ISS, the crew installed a new 8-tonne Russian module, carried out three spacewalks and completed some repair work to the ISS.

Innovation has always been the life blood of aviation and space development. From the most entrepreneurial of beginnings to massive corporations the contributions to advancing aerospace that have come from innovations can not be understated. Yet as the industry has matured innovation has become increasingly difficult to achieve.

The Chancellor’s pre-budget speech is likely to make clear the scale of the financial challenge facing us. Yet the world remains a dangerously unpredictable place as it emerges from the financial crisis into an as yet ill-defined multi-polar state. While we rightly concentrate all efforts on Afghanistan we must not lose sight of the current and future threats to the national interest that history tells us will emerge, often in unexpected form.