Orbital space race heats up in Arctic north

It's 04:00 on a snow-covered hill in Swedish Lapland, 120 miles (200km) north of the Arctic Circle.

A countdown echoes from a Tannoy: "Three, two, one."

A rocket blasts off from a launcher, shooting into the sky and illuminating the darkened valley below.

Moments later, a second rocket motor kicks in with a deafening roar.

We are visiting the Esrange Space Centre near the city of Kiruna, run by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC Space), where more than 600 rockets have launched since the 1960s, mostly sub-orbital rockets used for scientific research, or to test-run space flights.