British version of NASA to begin work in April

Britain's first space agency will begin operating next month in an effort to coordinate U.K. space activities while raising the country's profile in the global space economy, officials said.

With an initial operating budget of 230 million pounds ($346 million) _ modest compared with NASA's yearly $19 billion _ the government said the new UK Space Agency would nevertheless create tens of thousands of jobs while developing a recession-defying industry that up to now has received little attention.

The country's 6 billion pound ($9 billion) space industry "is one of Britain's real success stories," Business Secretary Peter Mandelson said Tuesday. …