{"id":277175,"date":"2025-11-22T12:03:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/277175\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T12:03:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T12:03:08","slug":"first-launch-from-saxavord-postponed-until-next-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/277175\/","title":{"rendered":"First launch from SaxaVord postponed until next year"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE FIRST vertical rocket launch from the SaxaVord Spaceport has been delayed until next year, Shetland News can reveal.<\/p>\n

German space company Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) had hoped to launch a test flight of their S1 rocket before the end of the year.<\/p>\n

But the company\u2019s new chief executive Indulis Kalnins has confirmed that the company\u2019s plans have now slipped into 2026.<\/p>\n

Kalnins was giving an update on the timeframe while speaking as part of a panel discussion during the SpaceTechExpo, which was held in the German city of Bremen this week.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for RFA added: \u201cI can now officially confirm that our first test flight will take place in 2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news is not entirely unexpected after an RFA \u2018hot fire\u2019 test at the SaxaVord Spaceport in August last year, saw the company\u2019s rocket equipment go up in flames.<\/p>\n

The company said at the time that valuable lessons had be learned, adding that they wanted to be back at the Unst spaceport as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

These setbacks are regarded as valuable and inevitable part of the journey to launch rockets into space.<\/p>\n

A launch window of November or December 2025 had initially been identified, but this has now slipped into next year.<\/p>\n

The news comes after a warning from a parliamentary committee that without secure and long-term investment from government, Scotland, and the UK, was in danger of falling behind in the race to be launch ready for the budding space industry.<\/p>\n

An Isar Aerospace Spectrum rocket launched successfully from the And\u00f8ya space centre in Norway at the end of March, but crashed 20 seconds after taking off.<\/p>\n

SaxaVord is the first fully licensed spaceport in the UK for small rockets delivering payloads into the low earth orbit.<\/p>\n

The spaceport, which is almost entirely privately financed, has launch agreements with several companies \u2013 including Orbex, Skyrora and HyImpulse \u2013 to launch rockets from the Lamba Ness site.<\/p>\n

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The spaceport\u2019s chief executive Scott Hammond said: \u201cThere is tremendous excitement building for our partner RFA\u2019s first test flight, and everyone here at Saxa has been working extremely hard to support their team, both on-site and in Augsburg, with their preparations.<\/p>\n

\u201cRFA are pioneering vertical rocket launches in Europe, and quite rightly it takes time to get everything in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs their chosen spaceport, we are ready to help take them on the next step in their successful evolution as a launch service provider, with the ultimate goal of taking satellites that we all rely on in our daily lives into orbit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the UK space minister Liz Lloyd visited SaxaVord on Friday to open the spaceport\u2019s \u00a0rocket hall 1 where rockets will be assembled and their satellite payloads inserted.<\/p>\n

The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) did not offer any local media opportunities.<\/p>\n

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