The landing on the island is pure James Bond, with the dinghy scraping through an archway barely wide enough to allow us through before entering a little cove hidden from the sea. The island nearly became even more like a scene out of You Only LiveTwice when in 1973 it was proposed as the launching site for a space flight by the youthful Dr. Gary Hudson. He wrote a letter to the Irish Vice Consul in the USA pointing out that as a neutral country with no affiliated space programme, access to the EEC and the grants that would flow, the island's isolation from a large population in the event of a serious accident, and ready access to fuel (one assumes springy heather must be ideal rocket fuel), Inis Na Bro would be the perfect launch site. He claimed his plans were supported by one astronaut who had walked on the moon. He had been taken to the island by the Kerry tourist board and claimed they were enthusiastic, perhaps the suggestion that it would provide 100 jobs enticed them. Apparently Dr. Hudson believed that by 2000 we earthlings would need to mine the moon to obtain much of our raw materials. The suggestion was taken seriously enough by the Irish diplomatic corps in the USA to arrange a meeting with Dr. Hudson. Sadly for them, but happily for those who cherish the beauty and value of the Blaskets, the initial enthusiasm was met with a little more cynicism on this side of the Atlantic, as the Vice Consul was advised by the Government here to "be on (their) guard lest the whole thing...be a gigantic leg pull"!

http://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/secret-plans-for-irish-spaceship-revealed-127645 A.html Linkback: https://mountainviews.ie/summit/1043/comment/14799/