But let's hear it for the Skylark - a magnificent piece of engineering

In the rocketry hall of fame, the Skylark hasn't ever been in the same league as the Saturn V ...or even the Black Knight. But let's hear it for this magnificent piece of engineering, which has outlasted almost every other rocket design ever, and which had its 441st - and last - launch on Monday. The 13-metre rocket lifted off from the Esrange launchpad in Sweden carrying scientific experiments, and flew for 16 minutes to a height of 158 miles. Skylark was launched firstly from Woomera in Australia, and subsequently from Wales, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Norway and Sweden. It has been the workhorse of British space science, an instrument-carrying sub-orbital vehicle designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its flight. Government funding of the programme ended in 1977 and it has since operated on a commercial basis. Production of the UK-designed motors ended in November 1994, but a stockpile allowed at least one Skylark launch a year. Hugh Whitfield, of the operators, Sounding Rocket Services, said: "Skylark is one of the most successful rocket programmes of all time, but this British achievement is largely unknown. We should be immensely proud of the contribution to science that Skylark has made and it is a testament to the skill of British engineers that the programme has lasted nearly half a century." We thoroughly agree.