Q&A with Dan Hart, president and CEO of Virgin Orbit (members only)

Moving closer toward launch Monday with a South Korean communications satellite, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket fired its nine Merlin main engines Thursday on a launch pad in Florida in a key preflight readiness test.

Making its first flight, a privately-funded air-launched rocket developed and built by Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit failed to reach space Monday after release from the company’s modified 747 carrier airplane over the Pacific Ocean.

Iridium chief executive Matt Desch spoke with Spaceflight Now on the eve of the first launch for the company’s next-generation satellite fleet, discussing the $3 billion upgrade’s technical and financial ramifications and his feelings before deployments begin in orbit.