Hidden in the Arctic, Sweden is quietly winning Europe’s next big space race

Sweden is leading in a battle to be the first European space base outside Russia to launch a satellite into orbit

First place is nice but it's not necessary", says Stefan Gustafsson, a senior official at the Sweden Space Corporation (SSC), with a telling chortle. Other actors are more aiming to be first. Naturally, I think we will be."

It was an unconvincing show of magnanimity. There is a space race on, a British rival has already spectacularly fallen by the wayside, and the Swedes have every intention of winning.