If successful, Rocket Factory Augsburg will become first company in Europe to carry out vertical launch into orbit

The UK has granted permission to send the first rocket into space from the Shetland Islands to a German startup that plans to launch a craft as early as this year.

Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said on Thursday that it had awarded the vertical launch licence to Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) to take off from SaxaVord spaceport in the archipelago 50 miles (80km) north of Scotland’s mainland.