Virgin Galactic and Spaceport Sweden

The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) sent out a notice to the media earlier today inviting them to attend the “inauguration” of Spaceport Sweden in the Arctic city of Kiruna on January 26th, and the announcement of a partnership with Virgin Galactic. Kiruna is already home to the Esrange Space Center, used for sounding rocket flights, but the site’s supporters now want it to become known as “Europe’s first and most obvious place for personal suborbital spaceflight.” It would appear that Kiruna has won out over sites in Scotland, such as RAF Lossiemouth, as Virgin’s first European spaceport. Flight International has some more details, and there is already a placeholder site for Spaceport Sweden that will go live on January 26.

(While I’d love to attend, I don’t think I can spare the time and money to do so.)