Proposals for a European spaceport for Virgin Galactic in northern Sweden have been featured by the Invest in Sweden Agency (ISA), a government agency that works to attract foreign investment in the country. The short article notes that Virgin Galactic in particular is interested in establishing a spaceport at Kiruna, which already hosts sounding rocket launches. However, despite the official imprimatur, the ISA article doesn’t indicate any kind of government approval or endorsement of the project: the article appears to be cribbed from (and cites) an article in a British newspaper previously discussed here.

Masten Space Systems has received some attention from a somewhat unexpected source: Radio Netherlands. An article on RN’s web site provides an overview of the company and its vehicle plans, which include the ability to carry passengers by the end of the decade:

And, like aeroplanes, the ultimate goal is to carry humans, rather than soda can size payloads. Michael Mealling elaborates:

“We do plan on providing sub-orbital tourism flights, starting in about 2009; very similar to Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic.”