Europa launcher

With additional Coralie and Astris stages Blue Streak was developed into the Europa launcher for the European Launcher Development Organisation, ELDO. The photograph shows a scale model of a Europa future development vehicle, as displayed in the Museum of Flight at East Fortune.

Rolls-Royce developed the RZ.2 rocket motor for Blue Streak. The RZ.2 was based on an American design with many improvements that enhanced the motor efficiency and reliability. Reliability was most important, as launch failures were frequent and embarrassing in the space programme at this time. Blue Streak was intended to maximise reliability. De Havilland and Rolls-Royce set up a test facility on Spadeadam Waste, where complete vehicles could be test fired on the ground. This pre-flight testing led to the Europa launcher being the most reliable launch vehicle of its era.

 

 

 

  


Return to
Space or Requirements