Britain should send astronauts into space, the new Science Minister said yesterday, giving the strongest sign yet that the Government will soon drop its longstanding opposition to funding manned space flight.

Lord Drayson said that British participation in missions to the Moon and Mars would inspire a new generation with interest in science and engineering, as well as benefit businesses.

His support for an “iconic project to put a Brit in space” promises to end a 40-year-old policy of refusing to fund crewed space missions.

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, where Lord Drayson was appointed a minister of state in last week’s reshuffle, is reviewing its position and a report is expected in the next six months.

He said that he was awaiting its findings with interest, but he is already clear that he will lobby for the recruitment of a national astronaut corps.

“We have to recognise that putting people into space is an iconic science project that inspires people,” Lord Drayson said. “We want young people to choose maths, physics and chemistry at A level, but it’s really tough. We need to explain why it’s worth it. I want to see us put a Brit in space as part of that.”

Although more than £200 million of taxpayers’ money is spent on space each year, it is all used for robotic probes and satellites. Successive governments have considered manned flights too dangerous and expensive, and Britain is not a partner in the International Space Station (ISS).

Pressure for a policy shift has been growing over the past two years. The Science and Technology Select Committee recommended a rethink, and a year ago the British National Space Centre advocated the recruitment of four astronauts, two of whom would be funded to fly to the ISS. That would cost between £50 million and £75 million over five years.

Lord Drayson said that although he accepted the huge scientific value of robotic missions they did not have the same power to inspire as human space flight. He said that a recent trip to the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida with his family had helped to persuade him that a new policy was required.

“I have five children, and the tour guide asked all the children aged between 8 and 15 to put their hands up. She said that they were eligible to join the Nasa astronaut programme to fly to Mars. I remember when men landed on the Moon. Now my 11-year-old daughter wants to be an astronaut.

“Government policy is being reviewed. I recognise that there are issues around budgets and so forth. But I want us to take into account the value that there is in the iconic project, to inspire young people.”

The publicity value for science of a British astronaut, Lord Drayson said, would outstrip that of events such as the switch-on of the Large Hadron Collider. British astronauts would become role models in the mould of Brian Cox, the former D:Ream pop star who is now a CERN particle physicist. “We need to make heroes of our scientists and our science entrepreneurs. We need to give role models, so that young people say, ‘That’s really cool — I’d really like to do that’.”

British involvement in manned missions, he said, need not be a “loss leader” for science that had purely educational value, but would create opportunities for business as well. “The fact that Richard Branson thinks he can make money sending people into space tells its own story.”

The European Space Agency (ESA) is holding an open competition to recruit at least four astronauts and several British candidates have made it through the first rounds. Unless the Government changes its policy to support manned missions, however, any Britons who made it through would remain Earth-bound.

Britain’s lack of astronauts is unusual among developed countries. The US, Russia and China have manned space programmes and France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, Israel and Brazil have all paid for astronauts to join flights arranged by other countries.

Three British-born astronauts — Michael Foale, Piers Sellers and Nicholas Patrick — have flown in space with Nasa, but all had to become American citizens. Only Helen Sharman, who flew to the Mir space station in 1991, has gone into space under the Union Flag, and her trip was funded privately.

Britain is the biggest funder of the ESA’s Aurora Mars project but has withdrawn from the parts that will involve human flight.

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