It will take about three months for Nasa engineers to test the platform and get it ready for use at its operational altitude of 705km.

BBC: Lift-off for latest Landsat mission

With 20 to 30 test spaceflights expected, it could be 18 months to two years before it's ready commercially, he said.

CNN: Private space pioneers: We're inheritors of Apollo legacy

It carried out a rough and ready experiment to test the reliability of fingerprints.

ECONOMIST: Fingering fingerprints

Earlier on Thursday, a South Korean defence ministry spokesman said it appeared that North Korea was "ready to conduct a nuclear test at anytime if its leadership decides to go ahead".

BBC: North Korea 'plans third nuclear test'

"They're nice things, but we're looking to the future not the past, it's all about getting ready for the first test and the first race in Bahrain, " he said.

BBC: Successful start for Lotus' new Cosworth V8 engine

It's likely to be a ready-made training video to form the basis of a citizen test on Britishness.

BBC: Psst - want to pass the new citizenship test?