Will Whitehorn, Virgin Galactic's president, said that one of the things which attracted Aabar was the fact that White Knight (an aircraft which lifts to high altitude a rocket that can then take either passengers or satellites onwards into space) could be flown from Abu Dhabi.

ECONOMIST: Space

Later this year a rocket incorporating the new motor will make an attempt on the UK rocket altitude record, which stands at 10, 540 m (34, 579 ft) and is held by the Mars group.

BBC: Hybrid success for British rocket

He said the rocket reached an altitude of approximately 200 miles, solidly into space, and just 50 miles below the International Space Station.

NPR: SpaceX Makes Progress with Rocket Test

It took off slung beneath the WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, which does the job of lifting the rocket plane to its launch altitude - some 45, 000ft (14km).

BBC: Science correspondent, BBC News

But officials said Wednesday's launch from the site 480km (298 miles) south of Seoul had gone as planned and that the rocket had reached its target altitude and deployed its satellite.

BBC: South Korea launches space rocket carrying satellite

The company's Pegasus XL rocket was flown to a launch altitude of about 39, 000 feet by a specially configured L-1011 "Stargazer" jetliner taking off from the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, near the equator about halfway between Hawaii and Australia.

WSJ: NASA NuStar Telescope to Hunt for Black Holes

On release, SS2 will then ignite a rocket engine to climb to a maximum altitude of about 361, 000ft (110km).

BBC: Virgin spaceship aims to be science lab

The satellite - which had been intended to study the effects of climate change - should have separated from the rocket and deployed its solar panels some nine minutes after take-off, at an altitude of 302km.

BBC: South Korea rocket 'explodes' moments after take-off