years time means that we re going to have to be using all the different rockets that are available to us. so the more that there are available, the better, and the closer they are to home, even better. the aim is to have several sites in the uk to launch rockets from, not just cornwall. and one is in an unlikely place in one of the most remote parts of the country. here in unst, one of the shetland islands, where sheep outnumber people and shetland ponies look on. this is the saxavord spaceport, which should see the uk s first ever vertical rocket launch. i think the first response from the locals was probably maybe it was an april fool or something like that. and then just as they ve seen the progress and the development since we ve been going, there s been real excitement about what we ve been doing.
the hope is these could all give a big boost to the local economies, and that s especially important here in unst. this island has suffered quite badly from depopulation over the last 20 or 30 years. there s a small airfield here, used to be the third busiest heliport in the uk, and then they also had an raf station here. when that left, it s about half the population of the island, and clearly that had a massive economic impact. so, you know, we re helping with the sort of rejuvenation of the island. we re hoping here, as we run it as a spaceport, we ll have more and more servicejobs, doing the fuelling of the rockets, putting liquid oxygen into the rockets. and those, of course, are going to be high paid, high skilled jobs. there s still some way to go and more launch pads to complete. the next step, though, is to start testing rockets before the first shetland blastoff to space scheduled for 2023. back in newquay, the launch
and one is in an unlikely place in one of the most remote parts of the country. here in unst, one of the shetland islands where sheep outnumber people and shetland ponies look on. this is the saxavord spaceport, which should see the uk s first ever vertical rocket launch. i think the first response from the locals was probably maybe it was an april fool or something like that. and then just as they ve seen the progress and the development since we ve been going, there s been real excitement about what we ve been doing. but there s a good reason they ve chosen the northernmost tip of the uk. so the site was identified five years ago by the government, you know, looking for the uk s capability to launch, which was which is the missing part of the space puzzle. and shetland we are so far north,
carry them and the spaceports where they launch. there are a lot of opportunities, but challenges, too. one of these is building a launch site at the northernmost tip of the uk. in unst, one of the shetland islands, the saxavord spaceport is aiming for the uk s first ever vertical rocket launch. this isolated location has been selected because it means the rocket can fly without passing over populated areas. there s a hive of activity, and the concrete s just set on a launch pad one of three planned. i think the first response from the locals was probably maybe it was an april fool or something like that. and then there s been real excitement about what we ve been doing. and there will be jobs. the rocket companies that we re working with are already identifying those roles that can be fulfilled by local people, that they don t bring somebody in as part of their team to do some refuelling of the rocket. that actually, those skills, those people can be trained locally to perform them.