UK space regulator licenses Virgin Orbit for spaceflight launch

FILE PHOTO: Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit, with a rocket underneath the wing of a modified Boeing 747 jetliner, prior to its takeoff on a key drop test of its high-altitude launch system for satellites from Mojave, California, U.S. July 10, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Britain has issued the final licences to Virgin Orbit for the first satellite launch take-off from UK soil, the Civil Aviation Authority said on Wednesday.

"Today we are one step closer to opening the UK's galactic gateway, with Virgin Orbit receiving a historic first licence to allow the UK’s first ever spaceflight launch," Transport Minister Mark Harper said.

(Reporting by Farouq Suleiman, Editing by Paul Sandle)