The UK may have a spaceport within four years—and it will likely be in the northern reaches of Scotland.
The plan to have a UK spaceport up and running by 2018 is expected to be announced by the government’s science minister this week, with six potential sites—four of which are in rural Scotland, where it won’t matter so much if spaceplanes crash back to earth—on the shortlist. The existing transport base at Lossiemouth is said to be one of the places Virgin Galactic has already put forward as a possible spaceport location, with Bristol’s Filton airfield another option. Either way, the UK is clearly joining the commercial space race, too. [Guardian]
