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upstart writes in with a submission via IRC for SoyCow1984:

Virgin Orbit flies its rocket into the skies for the first time

For the first time, Virgin Orbit has strapped its 21-meter rocket to a modified 747 aircraft and taken to the skies. The company performed this "captive-carry" test flight on Sunday in Victorville, located to the northeast of Los Angeles.

"The vehicles flew like a dream today," Virgin Orbit Chief Pilot Kelly Latimer said in a news release. "Everyone on the flight crew and all of our colleagues on the ground were extremely happy with the data we saw from the instruments on-board the aircraft, in the pylon, and on the rocket itself. From my perspective in the cockpit, the vehicles handled incredibly well, and perfectly matched what we've trained for in the simulators."

[...] Earlier this month, the company had conducted a series of tests that involved mating the LauncherOne rocket to the aircraft, nicknamed Cosmic Girl, and then performing taxiing tests. But Sunday's flight represents a new phase of airborne tests that will include "several more" flights of the aircraft with and without the rocket attached. These tests will ensure that Cosmic Girl and the rocket behave as anticipated during flight.

The final step before an actual in-air rocket launch will involve at least one drop test, in which the carbon-fiber rocket will be released from the 747 aircraft without firing its engine, in order to gather data about its free-fall performance through the atmosphere.

The linked article has several photos showing the rocket hanging from the 747 as viewed from a variety of different perspectives. A little-know tidbit is that the 747 was designed to have a 5th hardpoint on its wing. The actual engines would be attached to hardpoints 1-4; the 5th was designed for ferrying a spare engine to a remote location. It is to this (reinforced) hardpoint that the LauncherOne rocket was attached.

They are aiming to achieve orbit in 2019.

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