Frank Strang obituary

Entrepreneur who overcame the odds to realise his vision of a spaceport in the Shetland Islands

The serial entrepreneur Frank Strang, who has died aged 67 of oesophageal cancer, seized an unpremeditated opportunity to deliver the first licensed spaceport for vertical launches in western Europe, overcoming multiple barriers along the way.

Having acquired a disused RAF radar station at the most northerly point in the Shetland Islands a decade earlier - without any thought of spaceports - by 2017 Strang had realised the potential of his asset as the government sought to promote a UK launch capacity.