{"id":19050,"date":"2017-03-02T20:45:38","date_gmt":"2017-03-02T12:45:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/virgin-orbit-satellite-launch-spin-off-created-with-ex-boeing-exec-at-the-helm\/"},"modified":"2017-03-02T20:45:38","modified_gmt":"2017-03-02T12:45:38","slug":"virgin-orbit-satellite-launch-spin-off-created-with-ex-boeing-exec-at-the-helm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/virgin-orbit-satellite-launch-spin-off-created-with-ex-boeing-exec-at-the-helm\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Orbit satellite launch spin-off created with ex-Boeing exec at the helm"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_314352\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-314352\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-314352 size-full-width\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-virgin-launch-630x355.jpg\" alt=\"Air launch of LauncherOne\" width=\"630\" height=\"355\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-virgin-launch-630x355.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-virgin-launch-768x433.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-virgin-launch.jpg 1074w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-314352\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows Virgin Orbit\u2019s carrier airplane, Cosmic Girl, deploying a LauncherOne rocket for a high-altitude orbital launch. (Virgin Galactic Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Virgin Galactic says it\u2019s spinning off its satellite launch operation, including the LauncherOne rocket development program, as a new commercial space company called Virgin Orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The newly created company\u2019s first president, Dan Hart, comes to the job from the Boeing Co., where he most recently served as vice president of government satellite systems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m thrilled that our small-satellite launch service has now progressed to the point it merits the formation of its own company, Virgin Orbit, and a new president in Dan with decades of deep experience and success in a broad variety of space programs,\u201d Virgin Group founder Richard Branson said today in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>Virgin Group now has three companies in its commercial space portfolio, which is known as Galactic Ventures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Virgin Galactic, which focuses on human spaceflight services. It\u2019s based in Mojave, Calif., for flight testing, and aims to conduct commercial space tours out of Spaceport America in New Mexico.<\/li>\n<li>The Spaceship Company, which is headquartered in Mojave and focuses on the design, manufacture and testing of aerospace vehicles such as SpaceShipTwo and its twin-fuselage White Knight Two carrier airplane.<\/li>\n<li>Virgin Orbit, which focuses on the small-satellite launch services that will be provided by LauncherOne and its Cosmic Girl carrier airplane, a modified&nbsp;Boeing 747 jet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Virgin Orbit is headquartered in a 180,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Long Beach, Calif., where more than 200 employees are working on LauncherOne and Cosmic Girl. Test launches could start as early as this year, and the company already has a substantial waiting list for orbital launches.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_314389\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-314389\" style=\"width: 281px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-314389 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-dan-hart-2-281x300.jpg\" alt=\"Dan Hart\" width=\"281\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-dan-hart-2-281x300.jpg 281w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-dan-hart-2-768x820.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-dan-hart-2-1161x1240.jpg 1161w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-dan-hart-2-630x673.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-dan-hart-2-200x214.jpg 200w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-dan-hart-2-94x100.jpg 94w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 281px) 100vw, 281px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-314389\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Dan Hart. (Virgin Orbit Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Hart said he was thrilled to be joining the Virgin team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn 34 years at Boeing, I\u2019ve had the honor to work on some of the most iconic and successful space programs in history, including the space shuttle, the Delta launch program and satellite systems that have connected the world and protected our nation,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>Heading Virgin Orbit will be the \u201cperfect next challenge,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n<p>Hart joins a team that also includes Virgin Galactic President Mike Moses, a former NASA shuttle launch manager; The Spaceship Company\u2019s chairman, Doug Shane, who\u2019s a veteran of the SpaceShipOne development program at Scaled Composites; and Enrico Palermo, who has just been named The Spaceship Company\u2019s executive vice president and general manager.<\/p>\n<p>Galactic Ventures\u2019 CEO, George T. Whitesides, said the updated organizational structure \u201cpositions each Virgin space company to achieve its full potential while remaining true to our shared purpose of opening space to all.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Galactic Ventures is majority-owned&nbsp;by Virgin Group \u2013&nbsp;but Aabar Investments PJS, a venture firm based in Abu Dhabi, holds a minority stake.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_314391\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-314391\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-314391\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-virgin-orbit-3-630x346.jpg\" alt=\"Virgin Orbit team\" width=\"630\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-virgin-orbit-3-630x346.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-virgin-orbit-3-768x422.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/170302-virgin-orbit-3-1240x682.jpg 1240w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-314391\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Virgin Orbit team gathers at its facility in Long Beach, Calif. (Virgin Orbit Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows Virgin Orbit\u2019s carrier airplane, Cosmic Girl, deploying a LauncherOne rocket for a high-altitude orbital launch. (Virgin Galactic Illustration) Virgin Galactic says it\u2019s spinning off its satellite launch operation, including the LauncherOne rocket development program, as a new commercial space company called Virgin Orbit. The newly created company\u2019s first president, Dan Hart, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[291,1550,20,4396,492,1551],"class_list":["post-19050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-commercial-space","tag-launcherone","tag-satellite","tag-tech-moves","tag-virgin-galactic","tag-virgin-orbit"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19050"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19050"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19050\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}