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Virgin Orbit is a sister company to Virgin Galactic. (Richard Branson again.) The idea is to launch satellites using rockets carried to high altitude by large aircraft. It's like a less ambitious version of Stratolaunch, using a 747 instead of that surrealistic twin-hull Stratolaunch 'Roc'.

Stratolaunch could even theoretically launch astronauts into orbit with big rockets from their giant plane. But Virgin Orbit is limited to smaller satellites like those launched by Rocket Lab from New Zealand. There's apparently a market for "affordable" price launches of small satellites. (Satellites are like mobile-phones, as you pack capabilities into them, they've been getting smaller.)

Virgin Orbit has been building their own rockets in Long Beach and conducting rocket engine test-fires at Mojave Airport (where else??).

https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/...1050457103

Now yesterday they seem to have flown their aircraft from Mojave with a rocket under its wing, to assess weights, aircraft handling characteristics and stuff.

https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/...2228665344

Virgin Orbit photo:



They say:

"This flight is a prequel to our own endgame - closing out our final stage hotfires and the last few flights in our captive carry test campaign, now with a fully loaded rocket underwing. After that, a drop test, then it's showtime for our first flight to orbit!"

Virgin Orbit isn't going to let SpaceX, NASA, Bob and Doug have all the fun next week.

They are planning their first orbital demo mission for tomorrow, Sunday May 24, with a backup day on Monday May 25. They hope to launch a test payload into polar orbit over the Pacific off San Diego some time between 10 AM and 2 PM PDT (1 PM to 5 PM EDT) tomorrow. Unfortunately, there won't be any livestreams. (VO has already confirmed that.)

https://virginorbit.com/announcing-the-w...unch-demo/

Their 747 launcher plane will depart Virgin Orbit's base at the Mohave air and space port. Mojave seems like a little airport in the middle of nowhere, but to aerospace professionals and enthusiasts it's one of the most exciting places on Earth. It's where Burt Rutan's little 2004 do-it-yourself spaceship flew, where Virgin Galactic's suborbital spaceplanes are manufactured, and lots of stuff like Masten, Stratolaunch, Scaled Composites and the National Test Pilot School are located. An unbelievably cool place! (You've heard of 'the future', well Mojave is where they manufacture it!)

Better get something headed skyward again, after Richard Branson sold off almost 2.6 million Virgin Galactic shares to prop up his ailing travel and leisure enterprises. Prostituting the cash-cow to pay the black sheep's gambling debts.

Looks like they scrubbed for today and are going to their backup day on Monday.

https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/...7809118210

They just released their 'Launcher One' rocket, but it seems to have failed immediately after release. The 'Cosmic Girl' launcher plane and its crew are fine and are returning to Mojave.

https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/...5714155520

Great telephoto shots of Cosmic Girl passing over Santa Ynez California (small town near Santa Barbara) with Launcher One aboard on its way from Mojave to the launch area.

https://twitter.com/SpacecoastPix/status...9795582976

Instant news story here:

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/05/...uncherone/

Still no authoritative word on what happened (or didn't happen). Somebody on twitter speculated that the engine didn't ignite, and a Virgin Orbit propulsion engineer said that wasn't what happened, then deleted the tweet. Somebody who says he was an eyewitness in LA (a long way from the drop zone off San Diego) says he saw the rocket ignite, head downwards, then explode in a ball of flame. That's consistent with a guidance problem and a flight termination command, but I'm not convinced that this guy really saw it.

Here's Virgin Orbit on what happened today

https://virginorbit.com/virgin-orbit-ign...erminated/

They say,

"The company successfully completed all of its pre-launch procedures, the captive carry flight out to the drop site, clean telemetry lock from multiple dishes, a smooth pass through the racetrack, terminal count, and a clean release. After being released from the carrier aircraft, the LauncherOne rocket successfully lighted its booster engine on cue --- the first time the company had attempted an in-air ignition. An anomaly then occurred in the first stage flight, and the mission safely terminated. The carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl and all of its crew landed safely at Mojave Air and Space Port, concluding the mission."

Virgin Orbit photograph from their chase plane. It looked good for a few seconds before an unknown something went wrong and the flight was terminated.

Virgin Orbit has already said that the rocket was pressurized properly hanging from the carrier jet. Release went well, the rocket engine ignited as it was supposed to and control and guidance all worked for the first few seconds of flight. Then the rocket engine inexplicably shut off and the rocket fell into the ocean.

The question is why it shut down. Now the answer seems to have been revealed. Jeff Foust of Spacenews is reporting that Virgin Orbit is saying that what went wrong was a broken high pressure feed line in the rocket engine. Should be easy to strengthen on subsequent engines, but the VO engineers apparently want to understand whether more parts of the engine are prone to similar failures.

Virgin Orbit intends to try for orbit again before the end of the year.

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/12...7977972739

Virgin Orbit is back with a second try of their air-launched small-satellite orbital rocket. Looks like they will be shooting for December 19th or 20th.

https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/...3132637185

Here's something about what they've been doing over the last seven months since their first ill-fated try

https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/...5638883329



Their flying mission control in the launcher plane (Virgin Orbit photo)

If you aren't glued to your screen on Sunday Jan 10 watching Sn9, check out Virgin Orbit. They are targeting that day for the second try at getting their airplane launched rocket into orbit. They sound pretty confident that they can do it this time.

https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/...8583782401

Virgin Orbit is loading LOX in preparation for their several-times-delayed second orbital attempt. They anticipate Cosmic Girl, their converted 747 carrier plane, departing from Mojave Air and Space Port at 10:30 AM PST (1:30 PM EST, 18:30 UTC). It will fly over the Santa Barbara area to a spot over the ocean off San Diego, where it will fly in an elongated circular pattern prior to releasing the rocket.

Despite VO not as yet having succeeded in getting into orbit, this rocket is carrying payloads. These are ten little university cubesats built by U. Colorado - Boulder, U. Michigan - Ann Arbor, Capitol Technology U., U. Central Florida, Vanderbilt U., California Polytechnic State U. San Luis Obispo, U. Louisiana - Lafayette and Brigham Young U.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-s-elan...bit-launch

Sadly, there isn't any livestream.

https://twitter.com/Virgin_Orbit/status/...2900760576

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Takeoff time is slipping. They are now anticipating Cosmic Girl leaving Mojave at 10:50 AM Pacific. Rocket has been disconnected from propellant lines and flight crew are on the plane.