Re: Ariane
@CliveS
Not all that separate from the EU.
Quoting the Wikipedia:
"EU and the European Space Agency
The political perspective of the European Union (EU) was to make ESA an agency of the EU by 2014,[79] although this date was not met. The EU is already the largest single donor to ESA's budget and non-ESA EU states are observers at ESA. ".
The legal basis for the EU/ESA co-operation is provided by a Framework Agreement which entered into force in May 2004. According to this agreement, the European Commission and ESA co-ordinate their actions through the Joint Secretariat, a small team of EC's administrators and ESA executive. The Member States of the two organisations meet at ministerial level in the Space Council, which is a concomitant meeting of the EU and ESA Councils, prepared by Member States representatives in the High-level Space Policy Group (HSPG).
ESA maintains a liaison office in Brussels to facilitate relations with the European institutions.
I have no doubt Britain will remain in ESA, but their status might change.
And as a "joke alert" a guy named Wernher von Braun was a bit of a pioneer in rockets here in Europe until he decided to emigrate to the USA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Space_Agency
Biting the hand that feeds IT
