WORK is well under way on a full-size replica of the Isle of Wight rocket that took the UK’s first satellite into space.

Black Arrow was tested near The Needles before it launched the Prospero satellite in 1971 — and now a 46ft replica is being built at AMC boatbuilders, East Cowes, and will go on display at the soon-to-be-opened Wight Aviation Museum at the Isle of Wight Airport, Sandown.

The museum will tell the story of aviation on the Island, including a section on the rockets that were built and tested here.

Space enthusiast Richard Curtis, of Ryde, who is behind the replica project, said: “So many people don’t know about the history of rockets on the Isle of Wight.

"It’ll be good to bring that to life. When you see a full-size rocket, you really get a sense of the scale of the achievement.”

“The replica is fantastic — it’s going to be quite impressive.”

The main body of the replica is now finished and the next stage is paint.

It will have a fibreglass nose cone made by Vestas Technology UK.

The rocket will be transported to the airport where additional external details will be applied, including livery details to match the Black Arrow R3, which was the final rocket to be launched, just before the space programme was cancelled in 1971 (the unused R4 can be found in the Science Museum in London).

Mr Curtis hopes the rocket will be moved to Sandown within the next three to four weeks — although the museum has no official opening date as yet.

Mr Curtis said the programme had a dramatic effect on people’s lives on the Island.

He said: “Several workers from the Island found themselves shipped along with the rockets to the Woomera launch site in Australia and either stayed for several years, for the duration of the space programme or migrated permanently and never came back to Island.”