Inside astonishing ‘lost’ British plan to land on the Moon – before the US

A historic plan for Brits to land on the Moon was lost, but documents unearthed in 2019 unveiled the UK’s incredible ambition.

The documents showed British plans were developed and the idea to land on the Moon was more than just a fantasy.

Only one country has achieved landing humans on the Moon, this being the United States in 1969.

The States landed there five times in three years but since 1972 no human has set foot on the Moon, reports National Geographic.

US astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong became the first people to walk on the Earth’s satellite.

Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the moon on July, 20, 1969. As he did so, he spoke the famous words: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Around 650 million people watched the Apollo mission on television.

Armstrong was closely followed by fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who described the moon as “magnificent desolation”.

They spent 21 hours on its surface, including a seven-hour sleep, before returning to Earth.

Another country famously involved in the space race is Russia which was responsible for putting the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit in 1957.

Russia also developed the N1 rocket however Soviets couldn’t get their rockets to work.

In 2019, papers were unearthed from a storeroom in the Stevenage site of the aviation and space giant Airbus.

The site was formerly the home of the British aircraft and rocket manufacturer De Havilland, and provided evidence of plans for a secret and intricate British mission to the moon dating from the 1950s.

Documents showed clear ambitions to achieve a manned landing as early as 1968, a year ahead of the successful Apollo 11 landing.

The papers detailed plans for a decade of team selection, testing of equipment, rockets and lunar vehicles.

It was just the start of a period of ‘lunar exploration’ from 1970 to 1971.

Charts outlined plans for what appears to be several 168-hour missions through day and night.