If all goes well, Saturday morning will mark the launch of the first commercial rocket from Canadian soil. More specifically, it will leave the planet from the Atlantic Spaceport Complex, a newly built facility on the southern edge of Newfoundland, just outside the small town of St. Lawrence, about 350 kms southwest of St. John’s.

The Markham, Ont.-based company behind the mission is Nordspace , founded just three years ago by 33-year-old Rahul Goel , who is a currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Toronto, and also runs two companies, PheedLoop and Genepika. And the launch itself couldn’t be more Canadian. The sub-orbital rocket is called Taiga, named after a type of coniferous forest found at high northern latitudes, including the region of Newfoundland where the launch wil

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