Blue Streak

de Havilland Blue Streak ELDO first stage

Mission Profile

Blue Streak was a British single-stage liquid-fueled rocket originally developed as an intermediate-range ballistic missile before being repurposed as the first stage of the European ELDO launch vehicle. Standing 18.7 meters tall with a liftoff mass of approximately 89,400 kg and generating 667 kN of thrust from its two Rolls-Royce RZ.2 engines, it had the range to strike Soviet targets from British soil. The UK government cancelled Blue Streak as a weapon in 1960, redirecting it into ELDO's Europa 1 program where it performed reliably as a first stage despite the overall program's failures. Blue Streak's contribution to space launch was cut short when ELDO was dissolved in 1972, but it remains significant as the United Kingdom's most advanced indigenous rocket development.