What happens to Spaceport Sweden?

I stumbled across the web site Spaceport Sweden the other day, when doing some research about the Kiruna Airport. I was surprised to learn that the airport also has the ambition to become a spaceport, offering space flights with the Virgin Galactic. The web site was last updated 2015, saying you would be able to book tickets "soon". Looks like I don't need to hold my breath. Anyhow, I should probably not sweat it, since the price for a ticket on the Virgin Galactic's four seater "Unity" is at least USD 450,000, currently. A bit over my vacation budget.

Coincidently, I saw the article at Ars Technica about Richard Branson stopping further investments in Virgin Galactic. He says they have enough money until they introduce the larger six seater "Delta" in 2026. However, it's clear that the pandemic hit the Virgin Group hard, and the Galactic part is cutting jobs and suspending flights the next 18 months.

So, to sum it up, the future looks grim for Spaceport Sweden. Which is a shame. I love the thought of having a spaceport here. As you may have read in my other post about Esrange, we already have a rocket launch site in that neighbourhood. In my upcoming book "Rock Hopper", Esrange becomes a US military forward operating base in the future Satellite War. Ah well, if I want to see space ships in the northern sky I can always watch the 50's corny sci-fi "Rymdinvasion i Lappland" ("Space invasion in Lapland", later rebranded to "Invasion of the Animal People") where the aliens unleash a furry to kidnap some unlucky woman. Although I prefer the other way around, when Ripley goes after the alien.