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Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket reached orbit on its second flight on 2021-01-17.
Virgin Galactic spun out the LauncherOne project into a separate company, Virgin Orbit, in 2017.
No orbital-class, air-launched, liquid-fueled rocket had successfully reached space prior to Virgin Orbit’s 2021-01-17 mission.
Virgin Orbit had previously scheduled the Launch Demo 2 mission for mid-December but postponed it a week before due to COVID-19 contact tracing that led to precautionary quarantines of its personnel.
Virgin Orbit has backup launch dates of 2021-01-17, 2021-01-24, and 2021-01-31 according to U.S. Coast Guard notices to mariners.
A second Virgin Orbit Space Force mission planned for 2021 is STP-S28, also from Guam.
Virgin Orbit temporarily stood down operations for precautionary employee quarantines during the COVID-19 pandemic, delaying a late-2020 test flight.
In October 2019 the Space Force office selected several small launch providers to compete for task orders over nine years, including Virgin Orbit, Xbow Launch Systems, Firefly Aerospace, and Aevum Launch.
Virgin Orbit is a sister company to Virgin Galactic and intends to deploy satellites using rockets released from under the wing of a Boeing 747 airliner.
Two Space Test Program missions awarded to Virgin Orbit slid into 2021.
Virgin Orbit suspended launch preparations late 2020-12-12 after COVID-19 contract tracing the day before led to a new batch of precautionary quarantines and left insufficient personnel to prudently and safely proceed with pre-launch operations.
Virgin Orbit had been planning to fly its VCLS mission as soon as 2020-12-19 carrying 10 NASA-sponsored cubesats.
The Launch Demo 2 operation is part of a Venture Class Launch Services contract Virgin Orbit won from NASA in 2015 to demonstrate new small launch vehicles.
Virgin Orbit shipped the LauncherOne rocket from its factory in Long Beach, California to the Mojave Air and Space Port for the Launch Demo 2 mission.
Virgin Orbit attached the LauncherOne rocket to its Boeing 747 carrier aircraft on 2020-11-13.
Virgin Orbit’s Launch Demo 2 launch window opens on Saturday, 2020-12-19, with a backup window on Sunday, 2020-12-20.
Virgin Orbit shipped the LauncherOne rocket for the Launch Demo 2 mission from its factory in Long Beach, California to the Mojave Air and Space Port earlier 2020-11.
A 2020-11-24 Local Notice to Mariners by the U.S. Coast Guard states that Virgin Orbit will conduct hazardous operations offshore from San Nicolas Island, California between 2020-12-18 and 2020-12-21 during a four-hour window that opens at 1 p.m. Eastern.
Dan Hart, CEO of Virgin Orbit, advocates that governments should invest in a diversity of smallsat launch companies and avoid creating monopolies.
A Virgin Orbit launch attempt on 2020-05-25 failed to reach orbit.