Great to see Cornwall, where I grew up, is a step closer to hosting the UK's first space launch, which is scheduled for early November 2022. The project has been eight years in the planning, but hopefully this will open the way for future launch projects to be much quicker.
It is interesting that the first UK launch looks set to be of the "horizontal" type where the rocket is dropped from an aeroplane, rather than the traditional "vertical" type where the rocket blasts off from the ground. This launch from Spaceport Cornwall will put seven satellites into orbit. One of the drawbacks of horizontal launches compared to vertical ones is that they can only carry a relatively small payload. But as satellites have become smaller and smaller over the years, horizontal launches are becoming increasingly viable. In launching horizontally, the aircraft does most of the work in taking the rocket into the upper atmosphere, which saves on fuel costs, and the aircraft can also take off from existing runways.
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