Superb idea...perhaps if we spend several trillion pounds, we could have a few more items as handy as Teflon...

George Glencannon, Olencoe Crossing, UK

Douglas Adams had a much better idea.
Adams wrote of a scheme to get rid of the useless third of the population by shooting them off into space in an Ark, ostensibly to avoid some unlikely disaster that was about to befall them.
Now the house of commons, and the lords, all council officers...

quinbus flestrin, Hartlepool, UIK

I know just the one....initials GB.

judy, liverpool, england

And Lord Drayson would make an excellent - (though not the only, or even the first) - choice.

Robert, Hull, UK

Yes - good idea , lets send all the greedy bankers up there and with the profits theyve made they can pay their own fare!

Jane Weymouth, Littlehampton, England

There must be a better way then this Mr. Milliband ! You can be rest assured you will have job security for the next 14 years as oppersition leader, they don't need prudence on the moon!

Dave Farmer, Broxbourne, England

Preferably Peter Mandelson !!!!!!!!!

IAN PAYNE, Walsall,

Can I point out that the UK is a partner in the International Space Station as listed by NASA's ISS website.

Although I'm not in favour of human spaceflight at the expense of robotic exploration (which does more for the same money), I am pleased that 11 year olds can influence Government policy.

Stuart, Manchester,

"Let's put minister in space", say Brits!

SG, London, UK

its not astronaughts we need, its our own ability to get them into orbit and beyond thats the key. it would be like setting up the RAF by training a load of pilots and then not having a plane for them to actually fly in.
lets hope steve bennet succeeds. (even if they do launch from the US)

will, grimsby, uk

Brown and Darling are already removed from earthly reality, they bdon't ned a space ship.

John Glenn, Cape Canaveral, USA

british person from british soil in a british spacecraft is what we want!!!!!

Amit Hindocha, birmingham, uk

Yes, please let it be Brown.

Andrew, Marlow, UK

We're broke for crying out loud! You've busted the country and you want to spend more.

Phill, The Wirral, England

seems to me richard branson is way ahead of the british govt. on this one.

tim, wanganui, N.Z

Any Britain watching NASA TV which covers all manned space flights to the ISS cannot be sick in the stomach that for all its technical & scientific expertise Britain is not involved in the ISS & beyond. Applaud Sellars, Patrick & Foale: their determination, opposite UK govmnt policy is admirable.

Jonathan T-M, Malta,

Why bother unless the British Space man is Gordon Brown, space travel will always cost a lot of money that could better used here on Earth.

Peter, Hastings, UK

Hysterical!

The government that refused to support Dyson's engineering academy in Bath, which could have achieved real results, now wants to fund a space programme that will only achieve column inches.

And they claim to be "serious?"

Funnier than Little Britain!

Gareth, York,

I've got a better idea. How about the entire cabinet? Priceless!

Steve Westwood, Coleshill, UK

Why not put the whole Cabinet in space - they can do less harm there.

Ian Burgess, Bristol,

Oh for god's sake, our country is falling apart, we've just pumped £500 billion to reward failures, we're saying to the population "if you make investments and they go right, you pocket the returns, if they go wrong, we'll get other taxpayers to pay for your losses"... sort this planet out first!!!

Laura Roberts, London, UK

Its all very well inspiring children to do science but when they get to the stage of choosing their courses for university & look at the awful job prospects, poor pay and dearth of permanent positions in science combined with about 7yrs study building up debt the smartest ones will do something else

Doug, Edinburgh, UK

Yeah I second Gordon Brown for space.

Wayland Sothcott, Braintree, Essex

How about sending some local council finance guys first?

Tom Franklin, London, UK

I shouldn't worry-after all this is drayson. He won't hang around long enough to actually see anything through.

dan cook, london, UK

Mandy could go spinning into space as it is impossible to bring him down to earth

David, London,

What a ridiculous way to justify it. Our schools are failing to attract science pupils and this is the answer? Unbelievable.

"We need to explain why it's worth it." Well if it's about sticking a man in space to "inspire" people, then it isn't worth it!

Giordano Bennetti, Swindon,

Add to the nose cone Darling and several heads of baking starting with Chairman and CEO of Royal Bank of Scotland,

Michael Corby, London, UK

We tried financial services as the basis of the economy this gave us poor business practice and high salaries for a few.
A manned spaceflight programmes just might improve the morale of this nation and as it did for the US provide a driver for a technically literate workforce for the 21st century

Dave, Chorley,

It's about time the UK invested more in space, for many years it has lagged way behind other European countries such as Italy, France, and Germany. Funding space projects brings back returns in terms of technology and engineering jobs, it also inspires the young to study science.

Jesus Pascual, Seville, Spain

this seems to be a good idea, i'd like to see gordon brown or tony blair, strapped to the nose of the next shuttle.

si, stalybridge, cheshire

Yes, because we've got lots of spare money for a space programme!

Paul, London,

this seems to be a good idea, how about gordon brown, perhaps strapped to the nose of the next shuttle?

si, stalybridge, cheshire

Great idea,

I suggest you send your economics correspondent Anatole Kaletsky into space – and leave him there.

Kevin Mac Mahon, stockholm, sweden

Are we allowed to nominate?

dave hall, Stafford, UK

Hmmm the science minister has clearly not been watching the news lately, I think the government should be looking at keeping the economy going first!

Stuart, London,

OK, I nominate Gordon Brown. Who'll second that?

Ian Dickson, Brighton, UK

If manned spaceflight capabilities evolve in the UK, they are more likely to be a result of the burgeoning private spaceflight industry rather than a top heavy government agency like NASA. However, the UK simply cannot claim to be a first world nation without its own national astronaut core.

Geoff, Leics, UK