Washington

On a fall day

�in the Australian desert nearly 40

years ago

�the United Kingdom joined a very elite club of nations

�capable of sending objects into space on their

own. That successful launch of the

Prospero satellite on a UK-built Black Arrow rocket from Woomera Test Range in Australia was destined to be a short-lived milestone.

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Clinton Parks is the web producer for SpaceNews.com and copy editor for SpaceNews. He is responsible for copy editing and curation for the spacenews.com website, and page design, copy editing in the weekly newspaper. He also contributes to specialty publications...