Family-level launch record combining canonical variants, historical missions, public cadence forecasts, and available payload performance specs.
Historical missions are grouped by actual launch year. Forecast cadence uses family-level launch-rate rows.
| Year | Historical missions | Forecast launches |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 1 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2 | 0 |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 |
Payload capacity by variant and target orbit when structured capacity rows are available.
| Variant | Orbit | Capacity | Altitude | Inclination | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No performance specsNo structured payload capacity rows are linked to this vehicle family. | |||||
Latest launched missions using variants in this family.
| Mission | Variant | Launch |
|---|---|---|
| Launch 2023-F01 | LauncherOne | Jan 9, 2023 |
| STP-S28A | LauncherOne | Jul 2, 2022 |
| STP-27VPB | LauncherOne | Jan 13, 2022 |
| STP-27VPA |
Canonical variants rolled up into this launch vehicle family.
| Variant | Stages | Missions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
LauncherOne | Not stated | 6 | Retired |
LauncherOne |
| Jun 30, 2021 |
| Elana XX | LauncherOne | Jan 17, 2021 |
| Launch 2020-F04 | LauncherOne | May 25, 2020 |
Upcoming mission rows with announced launch timing.
| Mission | Variant | Announced |
|---|---|---|
No forecasted missionsNo upcoming announced mission rows are linked to this vehicle family. | ||
Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne mission in January 2023 failed to reach orbit.
In January 2023, Virgin Orbit conducted a mission of its LauncherOne air-launch system from Spaceport Cornwall.
NorthStar had planned to launch the four satellites on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne system before Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 in April 2023 and was later liquidated.
The U.K. Space Agency released a lessons learned report on 2023-12-14 about the "UK Pathfinder Launch," the 2023-01-01 Virgin Orbit LauncherOne launch from Spaceport Cornwall.
The QPS-SAR-5 satellite was originally scheduled to launch on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne before Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy in April and was liquidated.
Virgin Orbit developed an air-launch system using its Cosmic Girl carrier aircraft to deploy the LauncherOne rocket.
Horizon Technologies’ original Amber™ payload was on one of eight smallsats lost in Virgin Orbit’s failed LauncherOne mission on 2023-01-09.
Horizon Technologies’ original Amber payload was on one of eight small satellites lost in the Virgin Orbit failed launch on 9 January 2023 when LauncherOne failed to reach the proper orbit.
The iQPS satellite QPS-SAR-5 will launch on Rocket Lab's Electron instead of Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne due to delays and the bankruptcy of Virgin Orbit.
iQPS originally contracted to launch QPS-SAR-5 on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne under a contract announced in May 2022.
Slingshot launched in July 2022 as a 12-unit cubesat on a Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket.
The 19 Slingshot payloads were developed independently and integrated in a couple of weeks prior to launch in July 2022 of the 12-unit cubesat on a Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket.
The Segment 5 inventory includes engines and other components built or in production for Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne vehicles.
On 2023-04-19, Virgin Orbit completed an investigation that confirmed a dislodged fuel filter caused a premature shutdown of the LauncherOne upper stage engine in the January mission.
Virgin Orbit’s next LauncherOne launch could take place later 2023.
The LauncherOne mission on 2023-01-09 experienced a premature shutdown of the second stage engine that prevented the stage and its payloads from reaching orbit.
Virgin Orbit completed an investigation into the failure of its LauncherOne mission on 2023-01-09 and disclosed the completion on 2023-04-19.
Virgin Orbit conducted one additional LauncherOne launch in 2021 and two LauncherOne launches in 2022 prior to the January 2023 failure.
Virgin Orbit’s first planned LauncherOne launch slipped from 2018 to 2020 and the 2020 attempt failed to reach orbit.
LauncherOne originated as a project within Virgin Galactic and was unveiled in 2012.