Richard Branson – Spaceflight Now

Virgin Orbit’s air-launched rocket fails on first test flight

May 25, 2020

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.

Virgin Orbit eager for data from first flight of air-launched rocket

May 24, 2020

Virgin Orbit is setting modest expectations ahead of the company’s first attempt to reach orbit with a liquid-fueled air-launched rocket, emphasizing a hunger for flight data on the test launch, which could occur as soon as Monday off the coast of Southern California.

Virgin Orbit schedules its first orbital test launch this weekend

May 21, 2020

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

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

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.

Drop test moves Virgin Orbit closer to first satellite launch

July 10, 2019

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 Galactic to move remaining SpaceShipTwo test flights to New Mexico

May 10, 2019

Virgin Galactic will conduct the remaining test flights for the company’s SpaceShipTwo suborbital rocket plane from southern New Mexico after moving staff and equipment from California over the next few months, officials announced Friday.

Video and photo highlights of Virgin Galactic’s historic SpaceShipTwo test flight

December 14, 2018

Check out video highlights released by Virgin Galactic of Thursday’s test flight by the company’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane to an altitude of 271,000 feet, above a boundary recognized by the U.S. government as the edge of space.

Virgin Galactic accomplishes milestone test flight to the edge of space

December 13, 2018

With two veteran test pilots at the controls, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane climbed to the edge of space for the first time Thursday in a major achievement for Richard Branson’s long-sought ambition to begin regular commercial hops with space tourists, and the first piloted flight by a U.S. vehicle above an altitude of 50 miles since the last space shuttle mission in 2011.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo completes second powered test flight

May 30, 2018

Helmed by two test pilots, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo rocket plane set new altitude and speed records for the company’s test program Tuesday during a powered flight over California’s Mojave Desert.