A modified Boeing 747 aircraft, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, will launch a rocket from under its wing around midnight local time.
As SpaceX works towards the first orbital launch of its fully reusable Starship rocket, Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit is looking to perform the first-ever orbital launch from British soil.
The company, an offshoot of Virgin Galactic, will use a repurposed 747 jumbo jet tonight, Jan. 9, to launch nine satellites into orbit. The launch is set to take place just before midnight GMT from Newquay Airport in Cornwall in the south of England, asIf all goes to plan, the Virgin Orbit launch will kickstart an exciting year for the British space industry.Virgin Orbit converted a Boeing 747 aircraft to carry a rocket called LauncherOne underneath its left wing.
The 747, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, has a mostly stripped-out interior so as to reduce weight due to the heavy load it carries. While the cockpit is exactly the same as that of any 747 airliner — aside from a red rocket launch button — the upper deck does house consoles designed for two flight engineers to monitor the launch.Though it was founded by British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Orbit is, in fact, based in Long Beach, California.
Virgin Orbit's launch method means it can technically deploy from anywhere with a runway that can accommodate a 747. Now, it will carry out the first orbital launch from British soil. The launch, part of a mission called 'Start Me Up' will send nine small satellites into an orbit roughly 500 km above Earth. These have several applications, including ocean monitoring and navigation.Today's launch is just the beginning for the British space industry.
So, while rockets will carry payloads into orbit much faster from launch, Virgin Orbit argues its method's flexibility means it can be deployed faster from the planning stage, and it can also be deployed from almost anywhere. Tune into the launch live stream later today via the embedded video below from Virgin Orbit's YouTube channel.
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