'Beautifully executed mission': Virgin Orbit reaches space with mid-air rocket launch

Virgin Orbit on Sunday launched its maiden rocket to space with 10 nanosatellites and successfully deployed the payloads into the target orbit, the official release confirmed. The launch was little different from the normal as it used a Boeing 747 aircraft to send the LauncherOne rocket into orbit. Virgin Orbit teamed up with NASA to send the CubeSats to space as they all belonged to the American space agency. 

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First commercial interaction with NASA

Virgin Orbit, marketing itself as the "premier dedicated small satellite launch service", is now capable of deploying satellites up to 500 kilograms into the Earth's orbit, which the company demonstrated with its LauncherOne test flight. The 747, which Virgin Orbit calls Cosmic Girl, took off from Mojave Air and Space Port at approximately 10:50 am local time on January 17. After the aircraft released LauncherOne, the two-stage rocket ignited and powered itself to orbit. The Sunday's flight marked many historical firsts as no other orbital-class, air-launched, liquid-fueled rocket had successfully reached space before yesterday's launch.

"A new gateway to space has just sprung open! That LauncherOne was able to successfully reach orbit today is a testament to this team’s talent, precision, drive, and ingenuity. Even in the face of a global pandemic, we’ve maintained a laser focus on fully demonstrating every element of this revolutionary launch system. That effort paid off today with a beautifully executed mission, and we couldn’t be happier," Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said in a statement.

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The payloads launched into space were part of NASA's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) mission. The payloads were launched in a mission called Launch Demo 2. The Launch Demo 1 to test the launching capability of Cosmic Girl was done earlier in 2020, validating that LauncherOne could be successfully air-launched from modified 747 aircraft. This was the first time NASA and Virgin Orbit interacted commercially. 

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