Oral answer to question provided on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 in the House of Lords, by Lord Drayson (Labour).

European Space Programme

Answer: My Lords, my noble friend makes a good point in that manned space exploration is extraordinarily expensive but it provides extraordinary benefits too, as has been very thoroughly reviewed over the past few days on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landings. I agree with my noble friend that the current policy of the UK Government of concentrating our investment in areas of scientific strength around robotics and satellites is appropriate and will continue.

This is an answer to the Oral question asked on Tuesday, 21 July 2009 by Lord Winston (Labour).

Question: My Lords, I declare an interest as a member of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Does the Minister not agree that manned space flight is extraordinarily expensive compared with unmanned space flight, given the extra payloads required to send men into orbit beyond the earth’s gravity? Therefore, is it not right for most of our attention to be focused on unmanned space flight, which gives the best scientific return for money?

Secondary information