A MEIRIONNYDD airfield has lost the race to be the UK’s first spaceport.

The UK Space Agency has chosen the A’Mhoine Peninsula in Scotland as the preferred site for a vertical launch facility, in an announcement made earlier this week.

However, the Llanbedr Aerospace Centre is still in the running to become the country’s first horizontal launch site for satellites and sub-orbital flights and that it is still “business as usual” according to the company’s CEO Lee Paul.

“The first vertical launch spaceport was always going to be Scotland,” Mr Paul told the Cambrian News.

“The geography and terrain dictates that, it was never our intention to have vertical lift-offs.

“It’s not an unexpected announcement or too disheartening, on the contrary, we’re very pleased the UK Space Agency has pledged to support us.”

The agency announced a new £2m development fund for horizontal launch spaceports across the UK at potential sites such as Prestwick, Newquay and Llanbedr, subject to a successful business case.

“We need an operator to build a business case and there should be some pretty big news in that direction in the next couple of weeks,” the CEO continued.

“Things are progressing very well, we have held successful trails recently with a space flight company and the Civil Aviation Authority have been on site recently with very productive talks explaining what legislation is being proposed for space flights in the UK.

“There will be lots more information available very shortly.”

The Welsh Government owns Llanbedr airfield, a former military site, but it is leased to Snowdonia Aerospace LLP who work closely with defence contractor QinetiQ.

Welsh Secretary Alun Cairns said the UK government had an “ambition to take the UK into the commercial space age”.

“Wales now has an exciting window of opportunity to take a leading role in shaping that future,” he said.

“We have the right geography and a skilled engineering base in aerospace, electronics and the software industries, standing ready to diversify and to flourish in the fast-developing space market.”