The UK's new era of spaceflight

The United Kingdom is rapidly becoming a launch nation. After decades of building world-class satellites, the country is now developing the infrastructure to send them to orbit from home soil — through a growing network of spaceports on its northern and western edges.

SaxaVord Spaceport, on the island of Unst in the Shetland Islands, is the UK's first fully licensed vertical launch spaceport. Its high latitude makes it particularly well suited to polar and sun-synchronous orbits used by Earth-observation and communications satellites.

Sutherland Spaceport, on the A'Mhòine peninsula in the Scottish Highlands, is being developed as a dedicated vertical launch facility with a focus on small satellite missions.

Together with horizontal spaceports in Cornwall and Wales, these sites form the backbone of a domestic launch capability that could see the UK become one of Europe's most active launch locations.