Sort of related...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4490253.stm
Last launch for UK skylark rocket
A hugely successful and largely unsung British space programme is about to draw to a close with the final launch of a Skylark sounding rocket.
The vehicle, which first flew in 1957, became a very inexpensive but effective way of carrying scientific experiments into suborbital space.