BRITAIN is finally – and officially – to put men and women into space. A government policy against sending Britons into orbit is to be reversed after almost a quarter of a century.

Until now, British-born astronauts have had to “hitch” rides on American or Russian space missions.

However, Lord Drayson, the science minister, has confirmed that the decision not to fund human space-flight training programmes, made by Margaret Thatcher in 1986, is to be rescinded.

British scientists, pilots, engineers and other suitable candidates can now apply to the European Space Agency (ESA) to become a trainee in its Astronaut Corps – and will get government backing if selected.

Drayson said: “Britain should be playing a full role in space exploration. There was a special fund for training astronauts and we did not contribute, but that is now changed. There are important benefits that come from manned space-flight and we have dropped our opposition. We have an astronaut entering training soon and I hope he will be the first of many.”

The announcement is timed to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first lunar landings in July 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.

Drayson’s move follows the ESA’s decision to select a Briton, Tim Peake, to take part in its astronaut training programme, based in Cologne, Germany, starting in September.

The growing interest in Peake could have been the source of considerable embarrassment, because Britain has always said none of the £180m it pays into the ESA each year should be used for manned space-flight programmes.

Lord Sainsbury, science minister from 1998 to 2006, reinforced this view, insisting Britain should support only robotic exploration of space.

Drayson, who took over as science minister last October has, however, always been in favour of reversing the ban and used Peake’s selection as a lever to get agreement from other ministers.

“I hope Tim Peake will be the first of many Britons selected to train as European astronauts,” he said.

One unresolved issue is whether Britain will now start supporting the existing manned space-flight programme, centred around the controversial international space station. For now it seems likely it will stay out.

Most Britons to reach space have done so by changing nationality or becoming space tourists.

The first was Helen Sharman, a food scientist from the Mars chocolate firm, who travelled to the Mir space station on a Soviet rocket in 1991 as part of the privately funded Juno project.

She was followed by Michael Foale in 1992, Piers Sellers in 2002, and Nicholas Patrick in 2006. Foale used his dual citizenship and the others became American citizens so they could join Nasa and train as astronauts.

Mark Shuttleworth, a South African entrepreneur with dual British nationality, took a different route, paying £12m for Russia to take him to the international space station as a tourist in 2002.

This week Drayson will reinforce his plans for Britain to take a bigger role in space by announcing plans for a “Space City” based around a new £160m ESA facility at Harwell, Oxfordshire.

British researchers are already working on the ESA’s ExoMars mission, to launch a robotic rover to Mars in 2013, followed by a joint mission with Nasa in 2023.

Drayson is also considering making the British National Space Centre far more powerful. At the moment it comprises a gaggle of 30 civil servants seconded from six government departments, two research councils and the Met Office.

Drayson said he was considering turning it into a fully fledged space agency with its own staff and offices.

Colin Pillinger, the scientist who headed the failed British Beagle 2 space mission to Mars, said: “I worked on the Apollo programme, and British scientists were intimately involved. It was an incredible, inspirational time, and it’s a great shame that we have not funded manned space exploration since then. I would love to see a British astronaut on the moon or Mars.”

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