British Rocket Group

The British Rocket Group was a scientific think-tank.

History

20th century

During the 1950s, the Rocket Group ran a number of rocket launches with controversial results, so much so that some scientists decided to leave or to retire early. (MA: Who Killed Kennedy) Rachel Jensen worked there some time prior to 1963, before being drafted as the scientific advisor to the Intrusion Countermeasures Group. In the British Rocket Group, she had worked under "Bernard". (DW: Remembrance of the Daleks)

Using International Electromatics technology and now re-christened the British Space Centre, Professor Ralph Cornish took over the organisation, based at this time in Hertfordshire. The Space Centre co-ordinated the Mars Probes launched by Great Britain. (MA: Who Killed Kennedy)

The British space program came to a brutal end when Mars Probe 13 was attacked by the Argyre Clan of Ice Warriors. It was briefly reborn with the creation of the Mars 97 mission, which was wiped out as part of an Argyre Clan plot. (MA: The Dying Days)

21st century

In the 2000s, the British Rocket Group designed and launched the Guinevere One space probe, culminating in its launch on 31st October 2006. This occurred during the administration of Prime Minister Harriet Jones. (DW: The Christmas Invasion)

The British Rocket Group seemed to have reverted back to its old name.

Later in the 21st century, British astronauts would be part of NASA rather than the British Rocket Group. (DW: The Waters of Mars)

Behind the scenes

The British Rocket Group originated not on Doctor Who but in the BBC's 1950s horror-science fiction television serials featuring Bernard Quatermass. The first Quatermass serial, The Quatermass Experiment featured the grotesque transformation of a British astronaut as a dangerous alien organism took over his body. This would explain why a number of the scientists involved would have opted for an early retirement. The first (and only, in televised terms) references to the British Rocket Group (and of "Bernard") occurred as an in-joke in Remembrance of the Daleks. Given the nature of the joke and the manner in which it was made, it appeared to have been a cultural reference by the characters to a television serial, not to an actual organization which they believed to exist.

In The Christmas Invasion, the British Rocket Group does not get a direct mention, but in-universe websites did so.