Space minister ‘confuses Mars with the Sun’
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The space minister mixed up Mars with the Sun and mistook Jupiter for Saturn, it has been reported.
Andrew Griffith, a frontbencher at the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, also dismissed the prospect of becoming the first minister in space as he trumpeted the UK’s achievements in the sector.
In an interview with The House magazine, Mr Griffith said: “Would I want to be the first minister in space? I think the whole idea of space exploration is fascinating.
“It’s enormously good that people like Tim Peake and others do that, but I’m very respectful of the amount of proficiency that goes into that.”
Asked whether he would go up into the stratosphere, he replied: “That’s for other people.”
A YouGov survey last September showed more than half (54 per cent) of the British public did not want to travel to outer space, while 36 per cent would like the opportunity and a further 10 per cent said they did not know.
During his interview, Mr Griffith was said to have pointed to a Science Museum exhibit that switched appearance to show the surfaces of different planets and declared “now we have got Mars!” – only to be told by a member of museum staff it was in fact the Sun.
According to the magazine, he went on to exclaim “that one is Saturn” when the display changed again, only for the employee to reply: “No, no, that is Jupiter.”
Despite his reluctance to venture into orbit, Mr Griffith hailed Britain as a “great spacefaring nation” and said it was one of around half a dozen nations “that have got real credibility in space”.
Mr Griffith also downplayed the idea of a lunar expedition by Mr Peake, who is the only official British astronaut to go to the International Space Station and do a space walk and has previously expressed interest in becoming the first Briton to ever walk on the Moon.
However, Mr Griffith said: “We’re not sending Tim Peake to the Moon – we’re sending him back to the International Space Station.
“I hope that doesn’t come as bad news to Tim, but I think that’s a mistake. I think that’s a misunderstanding or misspeak.”
Mr Griffith, who was a chief operating officer at Sky before his election as the MP for Arundel and South Downs in 2019, has previously said lower taxes will be key to Britain’s economic success, calling for a “competitively regulated, low-tax and high-skills economy”.
