Spaceport gets on board with Tall Ships
Alistair Munro
SaxaVord Spaceport is the latest business to pledge its support as a sponsor for this summer’s Tall Ships Races in Lerwick.
The company, which is aiming to launch its first satellite into space later this year, has come on board as a cadet’s deck sponsor for the four-day event.
With thousands of visitors expected in Lerwick between 26-29th July, representatives from the space centre will be hosting a stall at Holmsgarth each day as part of a “tech tent”.
Spaceport community projects officer Bryden Priest said there would be information and display boards describing “the story so far” and the chance for folk to hear more about the company’s ambitious and exciting future plans.
“The Tall Ships is a really important event for Shetland, and from our perspective it’s great to see the opportunities it’s giving young folk in the islands to do sail training and to go and get those experiences,” he said.
Mr Priest added that the scale of the Tall Ships event, which Lerwick is hosting for the first time since 2011, made it “a good learning opportunity for us” ahead of the planned launch of the UK’s first vertical rocket towards the end of 2023.
Shetland Tall Ships Ltd project manager Emma Miller said she was pleased the space centre has given its backing to the event.
“We’re especially delighted that Saxavord Spaceport will have a presence in our ‘tech tent’ – an exciting space where people of all ages will be able to visit and interact with informative and exciting exhibits, including space-related items,” she said.
