Space & Aviation

Authentic Signed Space & Aviation Photos, Frames, Mounts and Displays

From the moment in 1903 when the Wright brothers made the first ever flight, space and aviation has fascinated man. Once man was flying jet powered aircraft thoughts turned to faster aircraft and in 1969 the supersonic airliner concorde was born. This sleek machine with its adjustable nose cone flew commercially until 2003. Concorde was retired in 2003 due to a general downturn in the commercial aviation industry after the type's only crash in 2000, the September 11 attacks in 2001, and a decision by Airbus, the successor to Aérospatiale and BAC, to discontinue maintenance support. Mike Bannister was the Chief concorde pilot from 195 till 2003. Before entering the Concorde cockpit for the last time, Captain Mike Bannister said he was "proud and privileged" to fly the plane back from New York. The space race began in the 1950’s with the race to reach the moon between the Soviet Union and the USA. The race peaked with the July 20, 1969 US landing of the first humans on the Moon with Apollo 11. The USSR tried but failed manned lunar missions, and eventually cancelled them and concentrated on Earth orbital space stations. The Space Race has left a legacy of Earth communications and weather satellites, and continuing human space presence on the International Space Station. It has also sparked increases in spending on education and research and development, which led to beneficial spin-off technologies. The first Briton in space was Helen Sharman who spent one week on the Russain Space Station, the latest Briton and first official British Astronaut was Major Tim Peake.