Tag Archives: launcherone
Virgin Orbit’s first launch demo flight ends abruptly after rocket release
Virgin Orbit plans to send cubesats to Mars as early as 2022
Virgin Orbit plans to be the first private company to send cubesats to Mars. Today, it announced a partnership with the Polish satellite company SatRevolution and a dozen Polish universities to design a series of small-satellite missions to the Red P...
Virgin Orbit’s first rocket drop test was a success
Virgin Orbit's first rocket drop test has gone off without a hitch. The company's Boeing 747 launch aircraft (Cosmic Girl) successfully dropped a dummy LauncherOne rocket from its wing above the Mojave Desert, bringing it one step closer to launching...
Virgin Orbit preps the LauncherOne rocket for its first drop test
Virgin Orbit has gotten the thumbs up to conduct the LauncherOne system's first drop test, and it can happen "in the very near future." The Virgin Group's launch services company has successfully completed its final captive carry flight test, almost...
Virgin Orbit’s rocket completes its first ‘captive carry’ flight test
Virgin Orbit just edged closer to its goal of launching rockets in mid-air. The company has completed the first "captive carry" test for its LauncherOne rocket, hauling the 70-foot machine under the wing of Cosmic Girl (its Boeing 747 launch aircraf...
Virgin Orbit will be the first to fly rockets to space from the UK
Today, Virgin Orbit announced that Cosmic Girl, its modified Boeing 747-400 launch platform for its Launcher One rocket, will take off from the UK. This will make Cornwall Airport Newquay the first site in the UK to support launches to Earth orbit. T...
Virgin Orbit books its first government launch contract
Today, space company Virgin Orbit announced that it's secured its first launch contract from the Department of Defense. According to TechCrunch, the payload is scheduled to fly in January 2019, though it's possible that it could launch earlier, in la...
Virgin Orbit will test its rocket-launching plane in 2018
There's a lot happening at Virgin's three space companies, even though they might not be making headlines the same way that other commercial spaceflight companies are. Virgin Galactic is focused on human spaceflight, and will be resuming powered test...
Watch Virgin Galactic test fire its satellite launching rocket
On top of doing space tourism, Virgin Galactic aims to launch small satellites under 200 kilograms (440 pounds) into standard orbit via its LauncherOne program by the end of 2016. To achieve that (and hit the $10 mllion target price) Branson's outf...