“And there’s no space access without the spaceports, and what we’re doing is enabling the nation’s capacity in space, whether it’s for national security, civil or commercial.”

Source: https://spacenews.com/spacex-to-take-over-west-coast-launch-pad-previously-used-by-ula/

China led the world with 34 orbital launch attempts in 2019 — including two failures — followed by 22 flights from Russian-operated launch pads and 21 satellite delivery missions originating from U.S. spaceports, all of which were successful.

Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2023/08/03/live-coverage-spacex-falcon-9-to-launch-intelsats-galaxy-37-communications-satellite/

It would be able to take off horizontally from runways and not require access to China’s spaceports.

Source: https://spacenews.com/china-is-working-on-a-design-for-a-reusable-air-launched-orbital-rocket/

There are a number of other European spaceports in various stages of development.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/bulgaria-commits-to-defense-spending-spree/?utm_source=RSS_Feed&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS_Syndication

'The UK is now starting to set up spaceports, but they are now outside the EU,' said Retired Brigadier General Peter O’Halloran.

Source: https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/arid-41129359.html