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Commercialization

U.K. Government Green Lights Next Phase in Spaceport Development

By Marc Boucher
NASA Watch
July 15, 2014
Filed under ,

U.K. Government Paves Way for Spaceport [With Video], SpaceRef Business
“The UK’s bid to become Europe’s leading space nation took a giant leap forward today as government revealed the 8 locations now under consideration to base Britain’s first spaceport.
Speaking at Farnborough Air Show’s ‘Space Day’, Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill and Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency Dr David Parker unveiled the findings of a recent Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) report highlighting 8 possible airfields that could host a spaceport and the economic opportunities it could open up for the UK.”

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10 responses to “U.K. Government Green Lights Next Phase in Spaceport Development”

  1. richard_schumacher says:
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    Real spaceports don’t need runways. We don’t require airplanes to take off from and land on railroad tracks.

    • hikingmike says:
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      Says Mr. Harrier 🙂 what about Skylon? Those people must be eating this up. I wonder how they’re doing on that.

    • SpaceMunkie says:
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      And how are you going to get the multimillionares to their rocket?

      You plan on busing them?

  2. hesaenger says:
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    Many years ago they proposed Cosford for a spacecraft runway. But Scotland will be better for launchers like VEGA to access a polar orbit.

  3. fcrary says:
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    Actually, real spaceports do have railroad stations. Spa
    cecraft, their components and their payloads are large and are best assembled elsewhere and shipped to the launch site. If I were building a launch site, I’d certainly want easy ways to transport bulk cargo there. Requiring a nearby airport with a 3000 meter (10,000 ft class) runway makes sense. Glasgow is on the list, and that would also give good rail and sea access.