IT is a new frontier for an airport better used to budget flights to the continent's beaches and city break getaways.

But space tourism from Scotland could be operational before the end of the decade, as the Government-owned Prestwick Airport ties up links with Nasa.

The Ayrshire airport has truck a deal with counterparts in Texas, which will see it benefit from expertise from the Houston Spaceport, one of 10 commercial space flight operations in the US.

A delegation from Houston and the Nasa-connected Rice Space Institute met with representatives from the Scottish space industry and local politicians, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between the various parties.

At Tuesday's event, Richard Jenner, Prestwick's spaceport director, said he hoped flights could be operational within three years.

He added: “We couldn’t wish for a more experienced partner than Houston. They have a long history of facilitating government funded launches and it is exciting to be embarking on the move to commercial space launches alongside them.

“This partnership will hopefully expedite the establishment of a spaceport at Prestwick.

“For us, the immediate focus will be working with our launch partners to provide lower cost access to space for the booming UK satellite and associated services industry in the UK and across the world. However, longer term, this partnership could develop in to a point to point for passenger travel using hyper sonic flight capability that will help to cut down journey times by a matter of hours.”

The MOU will allow both parties to share expertise, training, policies, processes and other information around commercial spaceport operations.

The Prestwick Spaceport will also benefit from Houston’s existing agreements with NASA, which enable them to use the agency's technology, research and resources.

Houston will also be able to benefit from Glasgow Prestwick Spaceport’s existing relationship with space launch developer and operator Orbital Access.

The tie-up would eventually mean that space flight customers looking for equatorial/tropical launches would be referred to Houston while those preferring polar launches would leave from Prestwick.

Arturo Machuca, general manager of the Houston Spaceport, said: “As we begin the next steps in this ambitious endeavour, partnerships like this with the Glasgow Prestwick Spaceport will benefit everyone, and will strengthen not only our assets and technology, but also our resolve to make commercial space travel a viable and valuable tool for the future.”

If Prestwick's spaceport plans are successful it would see the first satellites and rockets launched from the UK.

The length of the runways and coastal take-off routes are said to be in Prestwick's favour, with a feasibility study indicating it could be operational with just £1 million of investment.

The UK Government scrapped plans earlier this year for a contest for the country's first spaceport, preferring instead to license a site which met the necessary requirements.

Secretary of State for Scotland, David Mundell, said: “This is good news for the future of spaceport development in Scotland and I am pleased to see such momentum behind it.

“The UK Government’s Modern Transport Bill, to be published early next year, will help create the right legal framework for these new developments to progress.

“A British spaceport would represent a new frontier for our country. It would create skilled jobs in a cutting edge industry, and this announcement means Prestwick is a frontrunner to boldly go at the forefront of this exciting new era of travel.”

The prospects for space tourism generally suffered a blow when Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo crashed during a test flight over the Mojave desert in 2014, killing co-pilot Michael Alsbury.

Earlier this year it as revealed that the airport, which was bailed out with a £1 Scottish Government buyout, is costing taxpayers £750,000 a month and is now over £21m in debt.