Slashdot Mirror


Scotland Could Become Home To Britain's First Spaceport

An anonymous reader writes Scotland could take a giant leap for mankind by becoming the home of Britain's first spaceport. UK Government ministers will announce on Tuesday eight potential sites for a base for sending rockets and tourists into orbit. RAF bases at Kinloss and Leuchars are believed to be among contenders for the spaceport, which would open in 2018 and be Britain's answer to Cape Canaveral. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Danny Alexander said: "I am delighted that the government is pushing forward with its ambitious plans to open a spaceport in the UK by 2018. Spaceports will be key to us opening up the final frontier of commercial space travel. Scotland has a proud association with space exploration. We celebrated Neil Armstrong's Scottish ancestry when he became the first man on the Moon and only last week an amazing Scottish company was responsible for building the UK Space Agency's first satellite. The UK space industry is one of our great success stories and I am sure there will be a role for Scotland to play in the future."

4 of 151 comments (clear)

  1. Re:World Cup 2018 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How about getting the England football team beyond the first round for the next world cup? This I see as a much better plan for 2018.

    We prefer realistic goals.

  2. Re:World Cup 2018 by Chrisq · · Score: 3, Funny

    How about getting the England football team beyond the first round for the next world cup? This I see as a much better plan for 2018.

    We prefer realistic goals.

    David Cameron is currently undertaking a feasibility study on the possibility of holding a piss-up in a brewery.

  3. Re:Cynically I expect by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Meh, if the UK would just stop holding out on the Schengen agreement they could easily repatriate any inadvertent launch debris with almost no border control hassles!

  4. Re:Rather far north. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    Well, if that were true, then why doesn't Florida just go on without the rest of the US?

    Ugh, please do.

    And pray tell, how the hell does Canada keep up with the rest of the continent?

    Depends, are we speaking metaphorically?