Britain is looking to build its first spaceport and have it completed by 2018 as a spot for Space tourism.
Virgin Galactic and other space companies will be able to launch tourism flights for Space travelers from within the U.K., according to The Verge. The British government also announced the eight locations on Tuesday that are being considered for the spaceport.
"We have worked out the regulatory regime we need to launch spaceships in Britain and assessed what kind of aviation checks will have to be imposed when we put craft into space," said David Willetts, U.K. science minister. "In the wake of that work, we have now created a shortlist of locations for the first British spaceport."
The full list of possible locations includes two spots in the U.K., which are Newquay Cornwall airport and Llanbedr (Wales), along with six spots in Scotland: Glasgow Prestwick airport, Campbeltown airport, Kinloss barracks, RAF Leuchars, RAF Lossiemouth, and Stornorway airport, The Guardian reported.
All eight locations must meet strict criteria to be the host of the new spaceport, such as being a safe distance from heavily populated areas and having a runway that can be extended to over 3,000 meters (9,842 feet).
The U.K. plans to use the spaceport for launching both manned missions and commercial satellites.
"In order to lead the way on commercial space flight, we will need to establish a spaceport that enables us to operate regular flights," Aviation Minister Robert Goodwill said during Tuesday's announcement. "The work published today has got the ball rolling- now we want to work with others to take forward this exciting project and have Britain's first spaceport up and running by 2018."
A number of companies, such as Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace, are being eyed as potential users for the spaceport, The Verge reported.
Virgin Galactic is already looking to launch its first commercial flights later this year from a base in New Mexico. Richard Branson, founder of the commercial spaceflight company, has been reported to have also found at least one spot in the U.K. that he would like to use for launching flights.
