LauncherOne – Page 2 – Spaceflight Now

Virgin Orbit schedules its first orbital test launch this weekend

May 21, 2020 Stephen Clark

The first orbital test flight of Virgin Orbit’s privately-developed air-launched rocket is scheduled as soon as Sunday off the coast of Southern California, the company said Wednesday.

Virgin Orbit’s first launch could happen later this month

May 4, 2020 Stephen Clark

Virgin Orbit could attempt its first orbital test launch later this month over the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles, capping a development program for an air-launched small satellite carrier that began in earnest eight years ago.

Virgin Orbit completes cryogenic captive carry test flight

April 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

Virgin Orbit completed a captive carry flight of its liquid-fueled air-launched rocket Sunday over the Pacific Ocean in what the company described as its final development test before the small satellite launcher’s first mission to space.

AEHF satellite arrives in Florida for first of nearly 20 Space Force launches this year

January 13, 2020 Stephen Clark

The sixth and final satellite in the U.S. military’s network of ultra-secure, nuclear-hardened AEHF communications relay stations has arrived in Florida for final preparations for liftoff in March on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, the first of nearly 20 U.S. Space Force missions planned for launch in the first year of operations for the new military service.

Drop test moves Virgin Orbit closer to first satellite launch

July 10, 2019 Stephen Clark

A full-scale model of Virgin Orbit’s air-dropped small satellite launcher, filled with water and antifreeze instead of rocket fuel, dropped from the wing of a modified Boeing 747 carrier jet Wednesday over a test range at Edwards Air Force Base in California, paving the way for the company’s first space mission later this year.

Virgin Orbit nears first test flights with air-launched rocket

August 31, 2018 Stephen Clark

The attachment of a mounting bracket for Virgin Orbit’s smallsat launcher under the wing of a modified passenger jetliner portends the start of a series of captive carry tests with a full-scale model of the rocket, culminating in a drop of the vehicle before the first orbital launch attempt.

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

August 31, 2018 Stephen Clark

Dan Hart leads a staff of hundreds of engineers and technicians developing LauncherOne, a commercial air-launched booster intended to hurl small satellites weighing up to 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) into orbit.

Scotland site selected as launch base for Lockheed Martin, Orbex

July 16, 2018 Stephen Clark

Two companies — U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin and British start-up Orbex — seeking to carve out a share of the burgeoning small satellite launch market plan to fly their rockets from a remote site on the northern shore of Scotland, British government and industry officials announced Monday.

Virgin Galactic in transition one year after fatal accident

November 2, 2015 Stephen Clark

Last year’s fatal crash of Virgin Galactic’s suborbital rocket plane has delayed the start of the company’s commercial operations at least a year, prompting a change in mindset from a “period of euphoria to a period of real, measurable, but tough progress” as the enterprise backed by Richard Branson enters the second decade since its founding.

Q&A with George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic

November 1, 2015 Stephen Clark

Spaceflight Now recently sat down with George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, to discuss the company’s recovery from a fatal crash of its SpaceShipTwo rocket plane on a test flight last year and get an update on its air-launched rocket designed to carry small satellites into orbit.