Professor Richard Crowther (BWS 1972-1979)  

Richard left BWS in 1979 with a passion for aviation, passing RAF pilot selection tests during his time in the sixth form and qualifying for his pilot’s licence while waiting for his A Level results. While studying for his aeronautics degree at Southampton University and serving in the RAF as a Volunteer Reserve pilot, he became interested in astrodynamics and subsequently completed a doctorate in the field, returning to Southampton in 2007 as Visiting Professor in Astronautics.  

Recruited by the Royal Aerospace Establishment in 1990, he then worked on a variety of programmes including ballistic missile defence (BMD) and the Skynet military satellite system. As part of his BMD work, he identified vulnerabilities within Edward Teller’s Brilliant Pebbles proposal, which ultimately led him to study the increasingly congested space environment.  Richard introduced the topic of orbital debris to a worldwide audience writing for the international journal Science in 2003, proposing the concept of space sustainability in a Royal Society paper that same year (which would become a founding tenet of the Astra Carta initiative championed by King Charles in 2023). 

Richard was appointed as the UK’s Head of Delegation to the UN on space matters from 2007 to 2017, also serving as the Chair of the UN group responsible for establishing planetary defence measures against asteroids from 2007-2009. From 2012-2013, Richard also reported directly to the UN Secretary General on space security issues. When the UK Space Agency (UKSA) was established in 2011, he provided technical leadership as the agency’s Chief Engineer, ultimately taking on a similar role/title at the Civil Aviation Authority when it succeeded UKSA as the regulator for UK licensed space operations in 2021.  

Richard was inducted into Who’s Who in 2013 and was recognised by the space community in 2021 when he received the Sir Arthur C Clarke Lifetime Achievement award. This was followed in 2025 by the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Geoffrey Pardoe Award, again in recognition of his wide-ranging work on the safety, security and sustainability of orbital activities.