Latest news with #spaceport
The Guardian
a day ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Frank Strang obituary
The serial entrepreneur Frank Strang, who has died aged 67 of oesophageal cancer, seized an unpremeditated opportunity to deliver the first licensed spaceport for vertical launches in western Europe, overcoming multiple barriers along the way. Having acquired a disused RAF radar station at the most northerly point in the Shetland Islands a decade earlier – without any thought of spaceports – by 2017 Strang had realised the potential of his asset as the government sought to promote a UK launch capacity. Long-haired and cowboy-booted, Strang weaved his way through the corridors of power to persuade government, regulators and private investors that the answer lay in the former Saxa Vord base on the island of Unst. Step by step, he and his small team overcame safety, planning and political challenges while walking a financial tightrope to keep the vision alive. One of the more unlikely delays came from Historic Environment Scotland on grounds that the launch site would mean demolition of a former radar station that had been designated 'a monument of national significance'. The quango eventually withdrew its objection, recognising the spaceport's national importance. SaxaVord Spaceport was licensed in 2023 by the Civil Aviation Authority and the first launch is due within the coming months, with international clients from both civil and military sectors signed up. It is poignant that Strang will not be around to witness the climax to his endeavours; his cancer diagnosis came just two months before his death. The Saxa Vord RAF base had closed in 2006 and was bought shortly afterwards by Frank and his then wife, Debbie. The site included 23 houses and became an eco-tourism centre with accommodation, restaurant and bar. They diversified into a facilities company, providing up to 2,000 oil workers at the Sullom Voe terminal on the Shetland mainland with accommodation and catering, and founded the UK's most northerly gin distillery, on Unst, in 2014. The lightbulb moment came when the UK government commissioned the Sceptre report to advise on potential for establishing a vertical launch site in the north of Scotland. It concluded that 'the Shetland Isles has the best orbital access, but the remote site means it is logistically the most challenging'. The Strangs, along with a former RAF fighter pilot, Scott Hammond, in 2017 founded Shetland Space Centre (of which I later became a director); it was renamed SaxaVord Spaceport in 2021. The challenges, as well as the remote location, also included the fact that the Scottish government put its weight and money behind a virgin site on the Sutherland mainland, close to land owned by Anders Holch Povlsen, a Danish businessman who has extensive interests in the north of Scotland. Povlsen's well-founded environmental objections to the Sutherland option developed into wholehearted enthusiasm for SaxaVord and, as the need for investment grew to fund its construction, his sustained support and faith in Strang's ability to deliver kept the show on the road. 'Against the odds,' said Povlsen, 'and with many headwinds, even a few unfair ones, he built the solid foundations of what will likely become Europe's largest commercial spaceport. No matter what happens, many people, including me, are going to stay right behind Frank, doing our utmost to make sure SaxaVord becomes the success it's set up for.' Hammond, who has succeeded Frank as chief executive, said: 'We are determined to make the UK Europe's leader in vertical launch spaceflight. That will be Frank's legacy for Shetland, for Scotland and the UK.' Frank was born and spent his early years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where his father, Tom, was a physical education teacher. His mother, Barbara, also a teacher, died when he was 13. The family had its roots in the Highlands, and Frank completed his schooling at Dingwall academy, Ross-shire. He then graduated in PE from Jordanhill College of Education, Glasgow. After a spell teaching, he was accepted for training at the RAF College Cranwell, and joined the service as a physical education officer latterly based at Lossiemouth, in Moray, where he met Debbie Hope, a fellow RAF officer; they married in 1991. Part of Frank's role lay in community relations, and in 1994, the year of his departure from the RAF, he was appointed MBE for charitable fundraising. He was also coach to the Scottish freestyle ski team for five years. He left the service after suffering an injury in a parachuting accident. His first business venture was to promote the US region of New England as a winter sports destination for UK skiers. This took Frank into a project to redevelop a former military airport near Boston, which opened his eyes to similar possibilities in the UK, as the Ministry of Defence disposed of property assets. These were pursued with mixed results but his most fateful decision proved to be the purchase of Saxa Vord. The Shetland Islands council chief executive Maggie Sandison, who was involved from the outset, noted that the project was conceived and constructed with the community in mind: 'Frank's commitment to a spaceport education strategy created opportunities for children and young people to engage with astronauts, attend space camps and participate in national space competitions.' Frank and Debbie, who is deputy chief executive of Shetland Space Centre, separated two years ago. Recently, he married Dani Morey. She survives him, along with Tom and Emily, the children of his first marriage. Frank Strang, entrepreneur, born 3 August 1958; died 13 August 2025
Wall Street Journal
14-08-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Trump Order Seeks To Cut Regulations for Space Industry
President Trump issued an executive order that aims to speed up rocket launching and opens the door to more spaceport developments. Many space industry executives have been frustrated by the pace regulators have moved to permit launches and other space operations, and had anticipated the Trump administration would try to address the issue. Those expectations were fed by the alliance between the president and Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX who advised Trump before their high-profile split.
The Independent
13-08-2025
- Science
- The Independent
SaxaVord founder and boss dies aged 67
The founder and chief executive of SaxaVord Spaceport has died aged 67 after a short battle with cancer. Frank Strang, who founded the UK's first spaceport on the Lamba Ness peninsula on Unst, Shetland, died on Tuesday. It was back in 2017 where Mr Strang began to campaign for a commercial spaceport in Shetland. Alongside his partners Scott Hammond and Debbie Strang, the founder assembled a team which turned SavaVord from a basic blueprint into a reality. Known for his long hair and cowboy boots, Mr Strang's colleagues remembered his drive and determination that helped SaxaVord overcome seemingly impossible odds to become the UK's first fully licensed vertical launch spaceport, complete with launch stool, integration hangar and tracking and telemetry system. Mr Hammond, who is expected to take over as chief executive, said: 'I have been a friend and colleague of Frank since our days together in the RAF, so his death so young is an enormous blow both personally and professionally. 'When we first identified the prospects for a spaceport at Lamba Ness in Unst, Frank would not take no for an answer and broke through barriers that would have deterred lesser people. 'He was a real force of nature, and his vision and his grit got us to where we are today, bringing the Unst and Shetland communities, investors and government with us. 'But our mission is not complete – my job now is to deliver not only the first launch but successive launches that establish the UK as Europe's leader in access to space. 'Both myself and the SaxaVord team feel a strong sense of responsibility to deliver that goal for Frank, and we will, I am in no doubt. 'We are determined to make the UK Europe's leader in vertical launch spaceflight. That will be Frank's legacy, for Shetland, for Scotland and the UK.'
Telegraph
13-08-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Spaceport founder dies before realising dream of rocket launch
The founder of Britain's first vertical spaceport has died without ever seeing rockets launch from the UK. Frank Strang, 67, who pioneered SaxaVord spaceport in Shetland with his wife Debbie, 60, died after a short battle with cancer. Mr Strang was the driving force behind the spaceport, but told The Telegraph in 2023 that the fight to be taken seriously had taken a huge toll on the lives of SaxaVord employees. 'As a company, we've had divorce, deaths, the bailiffs coming round, and almost bankruptcy,' he said. 'We've had to remortgage both the houses. It's almost killed me, my ashes are probably going to go up with the first launch.' Mr Strang, a former Royal Air Force physical education teacher, met his wife Debbie when they served at RAF Lossiemouth in the 1990s. After leaving the air force, the couple took over several decommissioned Ministry of Defence sites for regeneration, and in 2004 acquired RAF SaxaVord on Unst. The 20-acre site had been an air force base in the Second World War, and more recently a listening post during the Cold War. The couple initially housed gas workers at the site, but in 2017, the UK Space Agency launched a competition looking for a spaceport to partner with Lockheed Martin and ABL to develop satellite launch capability from Britain. A feasibility study suggested SaxaVord was the best spot, but the contract was awarded to Sutherland spaceport, leaving The Strang's forced to go it alone with a core team of friends and space enthusiasts. Without the Government's backing, the team struggled to find investors who believed they were serious. Employees had to work on half salaries, or for free, and it was only when progress at Sutherland and other European spaceports began to falter, that rocket companies started knocking at SaxaVord's door. The spaceport was granted the first vertical launch licence from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in 2023 and its range licence the following year. Two rocket companies also now have licences to launch from the site with the first lift-off expected within the next six months, delivering small satellites and space experiments into orbit. 'We had a background in making things happen' Mr Strang told The Telegraph that the first launch would be 'two fingers up to the people who tried to put us out of business'. 'When we started, we didn't have a clue what we were getting into,' he said. 'None of us had a background in space. We just had a background in making things happen. It's Local Hero meets Rocky.' Mr Strang was forced to step back from the business in July after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. But he vowed not to 'throw in the towel' and said he still hoped to live long enough to see the first launch. SaxaVord said Mr Strang's death was 'devastating' but said it made the company more determined to deliver a successful launch. Scott Hammond, an ex-fighter pilot and deputy chief executive of SaxaVord, who is expected to take over, was one of the original founders alongside Mr Strang and his wife. He said: 'I have been a friend and colleague of Frank since our days together in the RAF, so his death so young is an enormous blow both personally and professionally. 'When we first identified the prospects for a spaceport at Lamba Ness in Unst, Frank would not take no for an answer and broke through barriers that would have deterred lesser people. 'He was a real force of nature, and his vision and his grit got us to where we are today, bringing the Unst and Shetland communities, investors and government with us. 'But our mission is not complete – my job now is to deliver not only the first launch but successive launches that establish the UK as Europe's leader in access to space. 'Both myself and the SaxaVord team feel a strong sense of responsibility to deliver that goal for Frank, and we will, I am in no doubt.'
BBC News
13-08-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Tributes to 'pioneering' Shetland space port founder Frank Strang
Frank Strang, the driving force behind Shetland's space port, has died at the age of Strang bought a former RAF radar station on Unst about 17 years ago and considered turning it into an eco-tourism the plan changed when the UK government was looking for potential sites for vertical launches of small rockets carrying month Mr Strang announced that he was taking a "step back" from the project after being diagnosed with terminal cancer of the oesophagus. Mr Strang had earlier told how he had been given a life expectancy of six months to two former RAF officer, who lived in Grantown-on-Spey in the Highlands, said last month: "I feel a bit like I've been hit by a steam train."But he added: "We've all seen stories of people who have been diagnosed with a few months and five or six years later they are still going."The bottom line is we don't know what the end result will be."Mr Strang had said his "incredible team" would continue his legacy. SaxaVord UK Space Port - the first fully licensed vertical launch site in Europe - led tributes to it's "pioneering" chief Scott Hammond said Mr Strang's death was an "enormous blow both personally and professionally".He added: "When we first identified the prospects for a spaceport in Unst, Frank would not take no for an answer and broke through barriers that would have deterred lesser people."He was a real force of nature, and his vision and his grit got us to where we are today, bringing the Unst and Shetland communities, investors and government with us."Mr Hammond said the company's mission was not added: "My job now is to deliver not only the first launch but successive launches that establish the UK as Europe's leader in access to space."Both myself and the SaxaVord team feel a strong sense of responsibility to deliver that goal for Frank, and we will, I am in no doubt."We are determined to make the UK Europe's leader in vertical launch spaceflight. That will be Frank's legacy, for Shetland, for Scotland and the UK." Earlier this month, a Scottish company became the first UK-based rocket firm to receive a space launch Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) licence allows Skyrora to launch from a future launch is successful, the company could become the first British company to manufacture and launch a rocket into space from the Edinburgh-based company and the CAA described it as a "huge milestone".
