Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket reached space and successfully deployed 10 payloads for NASA's Launch Services Program on Sunday, Richard Branson's company announced.
Why it matters: Per Axios' Miriam Kramer, Virgin Orbit is one of several private spaceflight companies aiming to capitalize on what they believe is a boom in demand for small spacecraft launches.
Today's sequence of events for #LaunchDemo2 went exactly to plan, from safe execution of our ground ops all the way through successful full duration burns on both engines. To say we're thrilled would be a massive understatement, but 240 characters couldn't do it justice anyway. pic.twitter.com/ZKpoi7hkGN
— Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) January 18, 2021
- "This flight also marks a historical first: no other orbital class, air-launched, liquid-fueled rocket had successfully reached space before today," Virgin Orbit said in a statement.
The big picture: The Virgin Orbit "Cosmic Girl," a modified, 70-foot-long Boeing 747-400 carrying the rocket under it's wing, took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California.
- The rocket dropped from the wing and ignited its engine during the launch.
- Virgin Orbit's first attempted demonstration launch was last May, when it was carrying a test satellite. It "briefly flew under power before it stopped thrusting," AP notes.
Worth noting: Rocket Lab, another company launching small satellites to orbit, has "deployed 96 payloads in 17 launches of its Electron rocket from a site in New Zealand," per AP.
- It's preparing to launch another rocket after standing down a mission Sunday.
