Blue Streak Team Photographs

Blue Streak Team Photographs

Two black and white photographs showing a Blue Streak rocket and members of the team that worked on it. The photographs were donated by the family of Clifford "Taff" Stillman, who worked on the Blue Streak Electrical Vehicle Equipment Section. The accompanying newspaper cutting shows Clifford Stillman in the foreground.

Blue Streak was a medium range ballistic missile, developed by Britain in the 1950s with the aim of maintaining a nuclear deterrent. De Havilland Aircraft built the main body of the rocket, and Rolls Royce built the engine. However, due to mounting costs and its vulnerability to pre-emptive strikes, the missile programme was cancelled in 1960. Blue Streak then went on to become the first stage of a new European satellite launcher called Europa. Altogether, eleven Blue Streaks were launched. All of them were successful. However, the Europa system as a whole was not and never managed to put a satellite into orbit. There were repeated problems with the separation between the stages and the British Government lost enthusiasm for the project. By the early 1970s, in the face of mounting costs, the development of Blue Streak was cancelled.

The last Blue Streak off the production line is on display at the National Space Centre, on loan from National Museums Liverpool and National Museums Scotland.