Out of this world

Two Scottish sites are fighting hard to be the UK’s first designated spaceport but is the idea pie in the sky or will there actually be lift-off? Prestwick Airport in South Ayrshire and Machrihanish, near Campbeltown on the Kintyre peninsula, have recently stepped up their attempts to move into the space age. They have been liaising with the UK government and the UK Space Agency over the possibility of licences being issued to break out of commercial airspace into orbit.