Category: Nonfiction
Reviewed by: Douglas G. Adler
Title: HOTOL & Skylon: The Story of Britain’s Spaceplanes
Author: Rob Coppinger
Format: Hardcover/paperback/Kindle
Pages: 268
Publisher: British Interplanetary Society/Independent
Date: May 2026
Retail price: $26.87/$20.15/$9.99
ISBN: 979-8198069084
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The 1980’s were exciting times for crewed spaceflight. The American Space Shuttle was up and running, making regular trips to orbit. The Soviets were working on their own shuttle, known as Buran, while maintaining a brisk presence in orbit with several successful space stations. Into this mix stepped the United Kingdom, who began to draw up plans for a single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) spaceplane that could (they hoped) one day dock with a proposed European Space Agency (ESA) station.
The initial plans were for something known as HOTOL (Horizontal Takeoff and Landing), which British Aerospace and Rolls Royce began to develop (with some help from NASA). HOTOL, despite a lot of initial interest, failed to generate enough enthusiasm to move forward (especially after the ESA abandoned the project) and was cancelled. HOTOL’s successor was Skylon, a different SSTO concept from Reaction Engines Limited. Skylon was an ambitious plan to create a craft that took off and landed from runways, using a mixture of air-breathing engines and rockets and different portions of the flight to operate in both the atmosphere and in the vacuum of space. Like HOTOL, Skylon was ultimately cancelled after an extensive period of development. Neither craft was ever completed, let alone flew.
In HOTOL & Skylon: The Story of Britain’s Spaceplanes, Rob Coppinger covers the story of both in great detail, with the reminiscences of many who played integral roles in these ambitious programs. The book shines when it captures the enthusiasm and excitement of those involved, and there are extensive quotes from many who devoted years of work on these projects.
The book stumbles when it comes to format and pacing. The chapters have no subheadings, which makes things quite challenging for the reader at times. Without subheadings, the chapters seem to go on for too long, and changes in topic and/or focus can come upon the reader suddenly. In addition, despite the title, the book moves beyond HOTOL and Skylon to cover a variety of enterprises in detail, including SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, and other companies (which have little to do with the main topics at hand), and at more than a few times the book seemed to lose focus.
The biggest problem, although certainly not the fault of the author, is that neither HOTOL or Skylon ever came to fruition. This sets the reader up for ultimate disappointment as there is no real emotional payoff to the story. The programs are conceptualized, spun up, cancelled, and ultimately never go anywhere. To date, no SSTO has ever been fully developed (by the UK or any other nation). Reading the work, I could not but help think of the U.S. Air Force’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program that would have flown in parallel to Project Gemini. Like HOTOL and Skylon, and despite extensive research and development, MOL also never got off the ground (although some MOL astronauts ultimately became NASA astronauts who flew in space).
Overall, HOTOL & Skylon: The Story of Britain’s Spaceplanes is an earnest work by an author who cares deeply about his subject. I suspect the book may struggle to find an audience given how niche the topic is. I also suspect there is relatively little interest in two programs that ultimately failed despite the great ambition and effort of those who worked on them.
© 2026 Douglas Graham Adler
