February 15, 2012

Aviation leaders and the British government are thought to be pushing for a European spaceport to be based in Scotland, amid rumours that Virgin Galactic is looking to expand.

Though the space tourism operation being pioneered by Sir Richard Branson has yet to send anyone into space from its flagship base in New Mexico, it is thought that the company is already looking at setting up an operation in Europe.

Scotland’s RAF Lossiemouth base would be the location for such an operation and success in bringing the base to Scotland would create a wide range of highly-specialised aviation jobs.

The science minister, David Willetts, has spoken out about his support of the company making a base in Scotland, and Jeremy Curtis from the UK Space Agency, said, “One of the reasons that places like Lossiemouth have been mooted as possible launch sites is because it is relatively far away from centres of population.”

A British bid would not be uncontested, however, with Sweden also looking to host Virgin Galactic at its already operational spaceport.

The first paying customers of Virgin Galactic are scheduled to take flight in mid-2013. They will have each paid around £127,000 for the journey, which will involve a 190-minute flight, offering around five minutes of weightlessness.