Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 21 of the Integrated Review 2021, what recent assessment he has made of the possibility of being able to launch British satellites from the UK by 2022.

The UK Spaceflight Programme is led by the UK Space Agency. It aims to establish commercial vertical and horizontal small satellite launch from UK spaceports from 2022.

The Ministry of Defence is supporting this ambition. It has provided security and defence advice to the UK Space Agency-led launch programme and there will be Defence research and development payloads on the inaugural Virgin Orbit launch from UK soil later this year.