Team members at Maritime Launch Services and Dutch company T-Minus Engineering watch as a rocket takes off from an MLS launch pad near Canso, N.S., on Thursday.

A company aiming to provide access to space from Atlantic Canada has hosted its first commercial launch.

On Thursday, Maritime Launch Services Inc. announced the flight of a suborbital rocket from a site it is developing near Canso, N.S., about 200 kilometres northwest of Halifax .

The single-stage rocket, built and operated by T-Minus Engineering BV of Delft, in the Netherlands, did not achieve its intended goal of reaching 100 kilometres in altitude – a threshold commonly used to designate where outer space begins.

However, the launch proceeded successfully and set the stage for more activity at the MLS site.

Canada’s sp

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