The story of the UK Space Agency

In 2010 Murray was starting his PhD, Kim was starting a company and the UK Space Agency was launched.

Dr Alice Bunn explains how the priorities of the UKSA developed over the years and some of the hurdles they had to navigate.

Dr Carolyn Atkins also joins Dr Murray Collins and Kim McAllister to explain how she proved NASA wrong and showed you could use 3D printing to create mirrors for telescopes.

Great British Lift Off is a Connect production sponsored by The Science and Technology Facilities Council and the Data Driven Innovation Programme.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council part of UK Research and Innovation  is proud to co-sponsor The Great British Lift-off.
As well as leading on UK space missions, we support business-driven innovation, by opening our doors to companies of all sizes. We offer access to our facilities, equipment, expertise and networks to accelerate the route to market for new disruptive technologies up in space and down on earth. Your partner in space. 

For more about how we support business:

• Edinburgh: http://higgscentre.org/
• Harwell Space Cluster: https://www.harwellcampus.com/space-cluster/
• ESA BIC UK: esa-bic.org.uk

 Th Data Driven Innovation initiative is delivered by the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University for the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal. We are an innovation network helping organisations tackle challenges for industry and society by doing data right to support Edinburgh in its ambition to become the data capital of Europe.