Launch Into Orbit

In the middle of last month, Richard Branson-led space company, Virgin Orbit, made its next step in launching commercially into the atmosphere. It ‘dropped’ a tester LauncherOne rocket from a Boeing 747 aircraft nicknamed Cosmic Girl.

LauncherOne is a two stage orbital vehicle that has been in the works since 2007 as a concept, but was shelved in 2015 in place of a bigger rocket. It came back in 2018 though, with the plan of commercialising satellites and it became a reality last month. It was released at 10,668 metres from under the 747’s wing, making it more cost effective by flying the rocket to an appropriate altitude before thrusting it into space. Admittedly, during the dummy run, the rocket dropped from the wing, and the engine didn’t activate, causing the rocket to plummet back to Earth and land in the Mojave Desert. However, that was all part of the plan. Virgin Orbit wanted to use the data taken from the drop on how the rocket acts, falling, through the air.

Image credit: Virgin Orbit