{"id":22736,"date":"2021-06-09T22:08:25","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T14:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/virgin-orbit-getting-close-to-fly-their-first-operational-launcherone-mission\/"},"modified":"2021-06-09T22:08:25","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T14:08:25","slug":"virgin-orbit-getting-close-to-fly-their-first-operational-launcherone-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/virgin-orbit-getting-close-to-fly-their-first-operational-launcherone-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Orbit getting close to fly their first operational LauncherOne mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"img-border featured-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\">\n<p>\t<img width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1600\" class=\"skip-lazy wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=320&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=640&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 640w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1500&amp;quality=82&amp;strip=all&amp;ssl=1 1500w\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\" data-attachment-id=\"14451\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/2021\/06\/09\/virgin-orbit-nearing-readiness-for-first-operational-flight-of-launcherone\/virginorbit_cosmicgirl_launcherone_totallytubular\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" data-orig-size=\"1920,1080\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"VirginOrbit_CosmicGirl_LauncherOne_TotallyTubular\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\n\n<p>Image: Virgin Orbit<\/p>\n<p>&#8221; data-large-file=&#8221;https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png?w=1024&#8243;><figcaption>\n\t\t\t\tImage: Virgin Orbit\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Virgin Orbit has become one of the newest launch providers to come online with the success of their Demo 2 launch earlier this year. Now their first operational mission is nearing launch readiness by the end of this month.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"more-14431\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Virgin Orbit, the commercial launch provider of Sir Richard Branson\u2019s Virgin Group, is the newest small-sat launcher to be able to launch payloads successfully into low-Earth orbit. Their rocket, LauncherOne, is a liquid-fueled two-stage air-launched vehicle that is dropped from the wing of an old Virgin Airlines 747.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This may seem overkill for a small-sat launcher but LaucherOne is big, larger than Rocket Lab\u2019s Electron and can carry up 300 kg to low-Earth orbit, up to 500 kg to a sun-synchronous orbit. Their newest mission named Tubular Bells, Part One will carry several cube-sats for the Department of Defense\u2019s Space Test Program, Royal Netherland\u2019s Air Force, and several commercial companies.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-launcherone-wet-dress-reheasal\">LauncherOne wet dress reheasal<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rocket for Orbit\u2019s third launch is currently going through final testing and is attached to the carrier aircraft, named Cosmic Girl. Teams have so far been happy with the rocket\u2019s performance that they are planning to conduct a wet dress rehearsal for the launch.<\/p>\n<p>\t<span class=\"outbrain-ad-label\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t<script type=\"text\/plain\">\n\t\t\twindow.adSlotsConfig = window.adSlotsConfig || [];<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\tadSlotsConfig.push( {\n\t\t\t\tslotID: '\/1049447\/Outbrain',\n\t\t\t\tslotName: 'div-gpt-ad-outbrain-ad-14431',\n\t\t\t\tsizes: [300, 250],\n\t\t\t\tslotPosition: 'mid_article'\n\t\t\t} );\n\t\t<\/script><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" alt=\"Site default logo image\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is where fuel is flowed into the rocket and is prepared to launch but the countdown is stopped well before the terminal count. Also, the payload is currently not integrated at this time and will be once these tests are complete.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-when-will-launcherone-fly\">When will LauncherOne fly?<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Currently, Virgin Orbit is attempting to get the rocket ready to open their launch window by the end of June. Teams have already integrated all the payloads into their respective dispensers. Soon Orbit will move the stack from their headquarters in Long Beach, California to where Cosmic Girl will fly at Mojave Air and Space Port.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image wp-block-image--obfuscated\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/themes\/ninetofive\/dist\/images\/default-spaceexplored-related-guide.png\" alt=\"Site default logo image\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There a special trailer will mate the payload stack onto the rocket and teams will begin reviewing if they are ready to fly.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Featured image by Virgin Orbit<\/em><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-want-to-help-support-space-explored\">Want to help support Space Explored?<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shop on&nbsp;Amazon&nbsp;to support Space Explored writers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Directly support Seth by becoming a member of their&nbsp;Patreon.<\/p>\n<p class=\"disclaimer-affiliate\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/spaceexplored.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2021\/08\/unistellar-telescope.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17371\" width=\"750\" height=\"150\"><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","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":[],"class_list":["post-22736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22736"}],"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=22736"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22736\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}