In the previous chapter an account was given of the events which led to the establishment of a co-operative programme in which, in the first instance, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) would launch three satellites at roughly yearly intervals with British scientific instruments aboard. We now describe in more detail the nature of the programme and how it worked out in practice. Most attention will be concentrated on the initial three satellites but something will also be said of the three further satellites whose launching was arranged at a later stage.

General co-operative arrangements

It was likely that a first launch for UK experiments would take place from the launch site on Wallops Island on the east coast of the USA. The arrangements with experimenters would be those normal in the USA. Each experimenter would have first call on his own data, and if the first launch attempt failed every experimenter could expect a second launch for his equipment. In return, NASA would require the equipment to have satisfied the stringent environmental tests appropriate to the launch and orbit conditions. In addition, evidence that the scientific instruments had operated satisfactorily in vertical sounding rockets would be required. If this was not possible in all cases using British rockets NASA would consider offering test flights in American rockets. Financial arrangements would be on a ‘no billing’ basis, each party paying for those items for which it was responsible.