Work on the £43m SaxaVord spaceport began earlier this year on the Lamba Ness peninsula in Unst, an island off the coast of Scotland.

Three launchpads will ultimately be built at the spaceport, allowing for the launch of small satellites into either polar or Sun-synchronous low-Earth orbits.

Current efforts are focused on constructing two of the three approved launchpads, named Fredo and Elizabeth, with the third, Calum, to be built in phase two.

SaxaVord Spaceport chief executive Frank Strang said that progress on the site had been “phenomenal” despite the project’s constraints and challenges it has faced.

“It is a testament to the huge efforts of our spaceport team, main contractor DITT and sub-contractors such as Unst Plant, a local company created specifically to work on our project,” he said.

“More new space history will be made here in Shetland next spring and summer with the first sub-orbital vertical launches from the UK, followed by vertical...