Ireland takes a shot at entering the €5bn space race

While Europeans were focused on the Brexit vote, others, further west, were gazing toward a more celestial horizon, and a new world of commercial possibilities.

At Mojave, California, Microsoft co-founder, Paul Allen, unveiled his ambitious plan to launch satellites into orbit from the world’s biggest airplane, which is currently under construction and scheduled for lift-off in 2020.

A twin-fuselage behemoth as wide as a football field and powered by six 747 engines, the Stratolaunch, complete with its 60 miles of electrics, is designed to carry a rocket attached to its central undercarriage.