Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Pushes Midair Rocket Launch to Monday:
[...] LauncherOne is Virgin's take on an orbital launch system. Rather than blasting off from the ground like SpaceX, Rocket Lab or other competitors, founder Richard Branson's concept involves attaching a small rocket to the belly of a modified 747, flying it above 75 percent of Earth's atmosphere and launching it from there.
[...] The company planned to do a full demonstration launch Sunday, May 24, but a screwy sensor prompted the team to scrub for the day "out of an abundance of caution."
The company tweeted that the issue should be resolved quickly, which would allow for the launch to still go forward during its backup window on Monday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. PT. The plan is for Cosmic Girl to take off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California and release the LauncherOne rocket over the Pacific Ocean. After a few seconds of free fall, the rocket's engine will ignite in midair for the first time and head toward low earth orbit.
[...] If Monday's demonstration launch goes well, the company will begin prepping for its first paid launch, a collaboration between NASA and universities to launch small satellites. That launch could happen as soon as June 29.
First Test Launch by Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Postponed:
Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit postponed its first space launch Sunday due to a technical problem.
The company said one sensor was "acting up" and fuel was being offloaded from the rocket in Mojave, California, to address what it termed a minor issue.
"This means we are scrubbed for today," it said in its social media post.
[...] The rocket will be released and its motor will ignite a few seconds later to propel a dummy satellite into low Earth orbit.
Virgin Orbit, based in Long Beach, California, is a sister company to Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company preparing to carry passengers on suborbital flights over New Mexico.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2020, @12:57PM
Will this be visible like the Vandenberg AFB launches?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2020, @03:19PM (4 children)
the dream of going up in the sky riding a virgin is coming.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2020, @03:38PM (3 children)
Won't they need to change the company name after the first orbit insertion?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2020, @06:02PM (2 children)
GGA... Goatse Galactic Airlines
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2020, @08:26PM (1 child)
And... It's a dud.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @02:35AM
Couldn't get it up.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2020, @08:31PM
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/25/21265057/virgin-orbit-launcherone-rocket-test-launch-747-airplane-cosmic-girl [theverge.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2020, @09:17PM (1 child)
Are you enjoying COVID-19, Boomers? I hope you are, because your political response to the pandemic has completely destroyed the economy. Did we really need a Great Recession in 2008 caused by you, and a Great Lockdown in 2020 caused by you? Are you proud of yourselves for creating an economic depression even worse than the Great Depression of the 1930s? Are you proud of yourselves, Boomers? Your legacy will be economic ruin for all. You don't care as long as you Boomers continue to receive your pensions. You Boomers don't have jobs. You Boomers don't create jobs. You Boomers don't do anything for anyone ever. You Boomers are utterly worthless parasites. You don't care about anybody except yourselves. Everybody except you is forced at gunpoint to wear a facemask while you Boomers sit in your giant mansions laughing and waiting to die when you will be buried with your fortunes so nobody will ever touch your precious money.
Boomers did COVID-19.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 26 2020, @03:31AM
Do we have a new troll?