In 1957 the successful launching of the first artificial earth satellite had little immediate effect on the technical activities of the Aerospace Industry of the European countries. It was some years before various countries in Europe either singly or collectively allocated significant funds from their national budgets to allow any real research and development work to begin. In Britain, for example, it was only with the cancellation of Blue Streak in 1960 that the question of determining some sort of national policy in space activity was really brought into focus.