Verified facts grounded in source documentation.
Virgin Orbit plans to perform its inaugural LauncherOne mission on 2020-05-24 with Cosmic Girl, the company’s modified Boeing 747, flying out of the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.
On 2020-03-20, Virgin Orbit will continue operations at its facility in Long Beach, California after state officials categorized the work as an essential service.
Richard Branson expected Virgin Orbit’s first LauncherOne launch to take place in April 2020.
Virgin Orbit is working with the U.S. Air Force to perform a LauncherOne launch from Guam to demonstrate the system’s flexibility.
Virgin Orbit withdrew from the DARPA Launch Challenge in October to focus on upcoming launches for government and commercial customers and expects to perform a first LauncherOne launch early 2020.
Virgin Orbit planned to carry out its first LauncherOne mission before the end of 2019 but missed that schedule.
In April 2019 Virgin Orbit planned to perform flights out of Guam to enable launches to almost any inclination.
Spaceport Cornwall could host Virgin Orbit’s first LauncherOne mission as soon as late 2021, subject to regulatory approvals in the United States and Britain and completion of airport infrastructure improvements.
The timing of Virgin Orbit's third-stage decision is paced by a Mars mission the company plans to launch for Polish satellite manufacturer SatRevolution in the third quarter of 2022.
As of 2019-10-24 at the 70th International Astronautical Congress, Virgin Orbit anticipated completing the maiden flight of its normal two-stage LauncherOne in that year.
The timing of Virgin Orbit's third-stage decision is paced by a Mars mission the company plans to launch for Polish satellite manufacturer SatRevolution in the third quarter of 2022.
The U.K. Space Agency plans to invest in facilities at a British airport to support Virgin Orbit launch operations.
Virgin Orbit’s role in Team Artemis will be to launch satellites built and operated by Surrey Satellite Technology and other companies, with the first launch planned as soon as late 2020.
The 2015 contract included options for an additional 100 launches at $6,000,000 per launch, creating potential Virgin Orbit revenue between $234,000,000 and $834,000,000 under the agreement with OneWeb.
Virgin Orbit signed an agreement with Cornwall officials during the Farnborough International Airshow in July 2018 to study LauncherOne operations from Spaceport Cornwall.
U.K. Space Agency and Cornwall Council plan to invest in facilities at Cornwall Airport Newquay (Spaceport Cornwall) to support Virgin Orbit launch operations.
The U.S. Air Force plans to launch 21 payloads on five missions this calendar year through RALI, including the STP-27RD flight and a later launch by Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne.
Virgin Orbit performed its first LauncherOne captive carry flight in November 2018.
Virgin Orbit has a contract for 39 missions using the LauncherOne air-launched rocket.
Virgin Orbit is the company spun off from Virgin Galactic to develop and operate the LauncherOne air-launch system.