A significant historic milestone has been achieved by SaxaVord Spaceport with the award of a licence by the Civil Aviation Authority.
It becomes the first licensed vertical launch spaceport in the UK and Western Europe following extensive assessment by the space regulator to check that appropriate safety, security and environmental criteria are met, and that SaxaVord has suitable infrastructure, equipment and services to accommodate vertical space launches.
CEO Frank Strang said: “The award of our spaceport licence is both historic for Shetland, Scotland and the UK and places us firmly at the leading edge of the European and global space economy.
“As importantly for me it is also a fantastic achievement by our Operations and Licencing Team led by Scott Hammond who have been working tirelessly alongside the CAA for almost three years to secure this award.
“Our team is very proud that the Government has entrusted us with operating a complex, multi-disciplinary and multi-launch spaceport and we all take this responsibility very seriously.
“There is much to do still but this is a fantastic way to end the year and head into Christmas.”
SaxaVord has a roster of clients including Rocket Factory Augsburg, HyImpulse, Lockheed Martin/ABL Systems and Skyrora.