Looking into the future at Spaceport exhibition

VISITORS have been flocking to get a taste of Cornwall’s role in the space race in the first week of a special exhibtion at the facility at Newquay Airport.

The show, which opened on Monday, is headlined Story of a Satellite and sets the scene for the launch of a satellite into space from Cornwall, scheduled for next year.

Melissa Thorpe, interim head of Spaceport Cornwall, said: “We have two months of our exhibition, Story of a Satellite, that features this giant model of the LauncherOne rocket which is 70ft long.

“We had it here for G7 but it was during lockdown so we couldn’t have many people on site and we thought wouldn’t it be amazing if we could get the public up here to see it, so we are lucky enough to have it for the next couple of months.

“We want to show people how a satellite is designed, built and tracked and all that process and a lot of that activity happens right here in Cornwall, which is surprising for some people, and to be able to have the public come up and see it and see what happens here at Spaceport Cornwall.

“There has been quite a lot going on for about eight years now, but we haven’t been able to show it off. It is quite a big moment for our little team to have the public come and for us to talk about what we have been doing.”

St Austell and Newquay MP Steve Double said he hoped as many people as possible would go and learn about the spaceport which is set to create new jobs in the Duchy.

Hugh Hastings/Getty Images Nine-year-old Lottie uses a VR unit in front of the Virgin Orbit Launcher at Spaceport Cornwall’s summer exhibiton