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Written by spacetravel.org
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Monday, 09 May 2005 20:02 |
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On May 2, 2005, the UKs Skylark rocket made its final trip into space. Its first launch was in 1957, from Woomera, South Australia. On its last flight, from the Esrange launch pad in Sweden, it carried instruments to study turbulence in evaporating liquids in microgravity and to study the muscle protein actin.
In its almost 50 years of service, the Skylark has aided a great deal of research. Among other things, it has been used in the study of x-ray astronomy and in the study of how frogs eggs can be fertilized in microgravity. The Skylark was able to carry instruments to altitudes lower than satellite orbits but higher than balloons could reach.
The Skylark made 441 flights before retiring.
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