BBC News - African space research: Dreaming of a manned shuttle

BBC News - African space research: Dreaming of a manned shuttle: It would be easy to laugh at Chris Nsamba, founder of the African Space Research Programme.

For a start, his research centre is based in his back garden where there's not much evidence of the type of sophisticated tools and machinery I'd imagine you need for this kind of work. When I was there, most of the engineers were equipped with just sandpaper and paint brushes.

They haven't even started work on the shuttle yet, at the moment it's more of a theoretical project.


I've got a jet engine on order so I'm planning to build a tunnel, put the engine at one end and when I throw a guy in, he'll float
Chris Nsamba

They have begun to build an aircraft though, apparently to test their engineering skills before they begin work on a shuttle which they hope will send a Ugandan cosmonaut into space.

The plane they've built is sandwiched tightly, nose-to-tail, between two single-storey buildings which house Chris and his team. It is painted blue and white and has the Ugandan flag proudly displayed on the side of the cockpit.

It's far from complete, there's still no engine - just a pile of bricks to simulate weight, and a mass of wires hang out underneath.

But it still seems like quite an achievement and if this hadn't been a space programme I'd have been pretty impressed. Chris believes that if his team is successful, this will still be the first aeroplane designed and built in Uganda.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/9573163.stm