Nigeria Moves To Put First Man In Space

Nigeria has taken serious steps to put
the country’s first man into space in
2015 with the assistance of the British
government.

The federal government, according to
dailymail.co.uk, has accepted
£300million this year alone to set in
train ambitious plans to launch the
country’s own rockets.
The medium said the first Nigerian
astronauts are being trained to join
Russian, Chinese or American
missions within the next two years.
Britain’s support for Nigeria’s space
initiative and other countries has been
criticised by its nationals, who said
that the Department for International
Development’s budget will rise by 35
per cent in real terms by 2015. They
said while aid costs are ballooning,
spending on the military, the police,
border control and care homes is
being slashed by the government.
Britain is also spending about
£280million a year on aid to India,
another country with its own space
programme.
Jonathan Isaby from the TaxPayers’
Alliance said: “When budgets are tight
both for families and the government
alike, people cannot understand why
ministers are sending more of our
hard-earned cash overseas.
Taxpayers find it especially
unacceptable when their money is
sent abroad as aid to developing
countries which then somehow find
sufficient cash to fund the likes of a
space programme.
“It is totally unacceptable that British
taxpayers’ money is effectively
subsidising Nigeria’s efforts to send an
astronaut into space”, he said.
Nigeria’s space programme started in
2003 but its first satellite lost power
and disappeared from orbit.
It now has three in space,
NigComSat-1R, NigeriaSat-2 and
Nigeria-Sat X, the first to be
constructed by Nigerian engineers.
Although Nigeria has bought its own
satellites and launched on Russian
rockets, the federal government has
built laboratories which it hopes will
produce its own space craft by 2028.


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Posted: at 10-08-2013 08:32 AM (10 years ago) | Newbie

Until then. We are waiting.

Posted: at 10-08-2013 09:04 AM (10 years ago) | Addicted Hero

But why?


I see this as a massive misplaced priority by the government

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Posted: at 10-08-2013 10:18 AM (10 years ago) | Addicted Hero