The Daily Mail (UK) reports that Virgin Orbit “is set to fire seven satellites into space later today, when RAF pilot [Matthew Stannard] ‘Stanny’ unleashes the LauncherOne rocket from a Boeing 747.” The jet “will fly up to 35,000ft over the Pacific Ocean for an hour, before deploying the Launcher One rocket and roughly 660lb of satellites contained within,” sending the satellites “into a 310 mile orbit” at 16:00 ET (21:00 GMT).
Full Story (Daily Mail (UK))
Tag: LauncherOne
Virgin Orbit On Track to Launch LauncherOne In Last Week of June
Fox Business reports that Virgin Orbit “announced Tuesday that its upcoming orbital mission, dubbed ‘Tubular Bells, Part One’…is on track to launch in the last week of June.” The company “said that its rocket, LauncherOne, has been shipped to Mojave Air and Space Port in California where final preparations are underway.” LauncherOne’s “payload will include satellites from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Space Test Program, SatRevolution, and the Royal Netherlands Air Force.” Last week, Virgin Orbit “conducted a successful cryoload test, where LauncherOne was filled with liquid oxygen propellant and fully pressurized to flight-like levels.” The company “will now move forward with a ‘wet dress rehearsal,’ where it will run through all combined launch operations up until takeoff.”
Full Story (Fox Business)
Virgin Orbit Schedules Second Demo Flight of LauncherOne for January 5; Rocket Lab Schedules Launch for January 16
Space News reports that Virgin Orbit is planning the second flight of its LauncherOne rocket on January 10 between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. EST. The rocket “will be carried aloft by a modified Boeing 747 aircraft taking off from Mojave Air and Space Port, which will release [the rocket] off the coast of Southern California.” The mission “will carry 10 NASA-sponsored cubesats from eight universities and one NASA field center, arranged through NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative program.” Additionally, Rocket Lab announced that it will launch an OHB-built communications satellite atop an Electron rocket January 16 from New Zealand.
Full Story (Space News)
Virgin Galactic Reschedules Opening of Test-Flight Window for December 11
Reuters reports that on Tuesday, Virgin Galactic announced that “it had set a new” window for the test flight of its LauncherOne rocket, with the window now opening on December 11. The company paused preparations in November because of COVID-19 restrictions put in place by New Mexico. The flight “will test elements of the spacecraft’s customer cabin, stabilizers and flight controls during boost.” The company is seeking to acquire “a commercial operating license from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration after conducting a certain number of test flights.” Virgin “said the rocket-powered test flight would also carry payloads for NASA as part of a contract announced on Monday.”
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Virgin Orbit Looking to Launch Second LauncherOne Flight In December
Space News reported that Virgin Orbit “is preparing to perform a second flight of its LauncherOne small launch vehicle in the second half of December, carrying a set of NASA-sponsored cubesats.” A November 24 “‘Local Notice to Mariners’ by the U.S. Coast Guard stated that Virgin Orbit ‘will conduct hazardous operations’ offshore from San Nicolas Island, California, between Dec. 18 and 21. Those operations will take place during a four-hour window that opens at” 1 p.m. EST. The company “has not announced a formal launch date yet, but has stated it intends to carry out a second launch before the end of the year.”
Full Story (Space News)