The UK Steps Closer To Creating Europe's First Spaceport

American companies like Elon Musk's SpaceX have been testing new limits in spaceflight. Airports are for airplanes, while rockets, satellites, and commercial spaceflights have to use their very own spaceports. The US is dappled with spaceports, and now the UK plans join us on the forefront of spaceflight. The British government has come that much closer to action in building its own spaceport, which would be the first spaceport in all of Europe. They just released their results coming off of a three-month long consultation.

According to the UK official government Space Innovation and Growth Strategy 2014-2030 they plan to establish a UK spaceport by 2018.They have agreed that opening a commercial spaceport could secure Britain's position in the emerging industry of spaceflight. They hope this move will drive economic growth and be a source of job creation.

This is the next step in a process that started in 2012 with the UK Department for Transport and the UK Space Agency asking the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to review what would be necessary to open a spaceport.

For their consultations, the UK government polled private companies and government organizations alike. Spaceflight companies like Virgin Galactic, were able to contribute their opinions alongside the Ministry of Defense during the government's three-month deliberation.

After taking into consideration things like location, nearby alternative landing sites, and surrounding air traffic, UK government has narrowed its search to shortlist of existing British locations including four sites in Scotland and one in Wales. It looks like we don't know where they will be launching from, only that we can expect the UK to start coordinating its own spaceflights in the near future.

Source: UK Government