{"id":37978,"date":"2019-07-11T01:03:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-10T17:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/virgin-orbits-cosmic-girl-conducts-successful-drop-test-with-launcherone\/"},"modified":"2019-07-11T01:03:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-10T17:03:39","slug":"virgin-orbits-cosmic-girl-conducts-successful-drop-test-with-launcherone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/virgin-orbits-cosmic-girl-conducts-successful-drop-test-with-launcherone\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Orbit\u2019s Cosmic Girl conducts successful drop test with LauncherOne"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Virgin Orbit achieved another major milestone in its test program for LauncherOne when an inert rocket was drop tested over a test range at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The flight saw the Cosmic Girl carrier aircraft follow up on its series of captive carry flights with Wednesday\u2019s release of its LauncherOne rocket.<\/p>\n<p>The test rocket was a fully built, fully loaded \u2013 although inert \u2013 LauncherOne rocket, allowing for it to be safely dropped over the Edwards test range.<\/p>\n<p>The test flight began with a takeoff from the Mojave Air and Space Port at Mojave, CA, at 8:43 A.M. Pacific; the drop itself occurred at 9:13 A.M. Pacific from an altitude of 35,000 feet.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1148991736678625281&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2019%2F07%2Fcosmic-girl-successful-drop-test-launcherone%2F&amp;sessionId=7b1241668ab4aa46891b05adb0577eaefd0a5e56&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1148991736678625281\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783498428450871087=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Congrats to @Virgin_Orbit on conducting their first drop test of Launcher One!<\/p>\n<p>If you look at the FlightAware track, you can see the ascent, drop point, and right turn out over Edward Air Force Base! pic.twitter.com\/gNTEI2ZLpO<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brady Kenniston (@TheFavoritist) July 10, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The primary purpose of the test was to monitor the few critical seconds just after release, to ensure the rocket and aircraft separate cleanly and to observe how the rocket freefalls through the air.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"widget-title penci-border-arrow\">See Also<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>New Virgin Orbit Forum<\/li>\n<li>L2 Future Vehicles<\/li>\n<li>Click here to Join L2<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This was the next milestone to be conducted after numerous Captive Carry flights that allowed the data to be gathered on how Cosmic Girl \u2013 a converted 747 \u2013 performs with a 70 foot long rocket under one of her wings.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn this flight, we will release a fully built, fully loaded LauncherOne rocket from Cosmic Girl for the first time. We\u2019ll be monitoring and rehearsing a million things, but this test is really all about those few seconds just after release, as we ensure the rocket and aircraft separate cleanly and observe how the rocket freefalls through the air,\u201d noted Virgin Orbit ahead of the test.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis upcoming drop test is a huge deal for our team. It represents the last major step of a development program we began in 2015, focused not just on designing a rocket but proving it out alongside the modified 747 that serves as our flying launchpad \u2014 not to mention simultaneously building out our manufacturing facility.<\/p>\n<p>Spaceflight history books<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Space Technology<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>Spaceflight news subscription<path d=\"M7.59009 18.59L9.00009 20L17.0001 12L9.00009 4L7.59009 5.41L14.1701 12\" style=\"animation: initial !important; background: initial !important; border: 0px !important; box-shadow: none !important; color: inherit !important; cursor: inherit !important; direction: inherit !important; display: inline !important; fill: currentcolor !important; filter: initial !important; float: none !important; margin: 0px !important; opacity: initial !important; outline: 0px !important; overflow: initial !important; padding: 0px !important; stroke: initial !important; transform: initial !important; vertical-align: initial !important; visibility: inherit !important;\"><\/path>\n<p>     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s impossible to quantify how much effort and joy and frustration and brainpower we\u2019ve poured into this project, so you can imagine the sense of anticipation we feel as we look toward one of our significant milestones to date.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The test went to plan and was deemed successful.<\/p>\n<p>Cosmic Girl was piloted by Virgin Orbit\u2019s Chief Test Pilot Kelly Latimer (Lt. Col. USAF, Ret.) and Todd Ericson (Col. USAF, Ret.), both of whom also fly for Virgin Orbit\u2019s sister company, Virgin Galactic. Also on board were Zack Rubin, Flight Test Director; Bryce Schaefer, Launch Engineer; Jason Panzarino, Launch Engineer; and Kevin Sagis, Chief Engineer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole flight went incredibly well. The release was extremely smooth, and the rocket fell away nicely. There was a small roll with the aircraft, just as we expected,\u201d noted Lt. Col. Latimer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything matched what we\u2019d seen in the simulators well \u2014 in fact, the release dynamics and the aircraft handling qualities were both better than we expected. This was the best kind of test flight sortie from a test pilot\u2019s perspective \u2014 an uneventful one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-2\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-2&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1149024243503394816&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nasaspaceflight.com%2F2019%2F07%2Fcosmic-girl-successful-drop-test-launcherone%2F&amp;sessionId=7b1241668ab4aa46891b05adb0577eaefd0a5e56&amp;siteScreenName=NASASpaceflight&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-14=\"true\" data-gtm-yt-inspected-21=\"true\" data-tweet-id=\"1149024243503394816\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1783498428450871087=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Now THAT\u2019s what I call a drop test! Video from today\u2019s very successful drop test of our #LauncherOne small satellite launch vehicle. More photos and videos coming soon. pic.twitter.com\/aOib4HYVPU<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) July 10, 2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This successful test paves the way for Virgin Orbit to make its final progression to launch. The company noted it has advanced on three parallel streams of work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst, the team needed to test LauncherOne on the ground, proving that its engines, tanks, pumps, software and all other elements can function together as integrated stages. That effort culminated in full thrust, integrated hotfires of both LauncherOne\u2019s main and upper stages. At the same time, Virgin Orbit needed to complete its flight test program \u2014 which has now come to a close with today\u2019s drop test.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFinally, the company also needed to build, assemble and test its first orbital test flight rocket.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-62140\" class=\"size-full wp-image-62140\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/NSF-2019-07-10-22-20-32-788.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"757\" height=\"490\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/NSF-2019-07-10-22-20-32-788.jpg 757w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/NSF-2019-07-10-22-20-32-788-350x227.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/NSF-2019-07-10-22-20-32-788-541x350.jpg 541w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 757px) 100vw, 757px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-62140\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">LauncherOne during production \u2013 via Virgin Orbit<\/p>\n<p>The company added, that \u2013 later this month \u2013 Virgin Orbit will finalize that rocket\u2019s assembly before handing it off to the company\u2019s operations team for a rigorous series of checks and rehearsals leading up to its first launches to space later this year.<\/p>\n<p>For today, however, the company can celebrate the latest milestone, before heading into the next phase of along the path towards its first launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s test was a monumental step forward for us. It\u2019s the capstone to a thorough development program not just for a rocket, but for our carrier aircraft, our ground support equipment, and all of our flight procedures. I\u2019m extremely proud of the team for getting us to this point and for their spectacular performance today.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve told them to take a few hours now to celebrate \u2014 our first launch campaign begins in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Virgin Orbit achieved another major milestone in its test program for LauncherOne when an inert rocket was drop tested over a test range at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The flight saw the Cosmic Girl carrier aircraft follow up on its series of captive carry flights with Wednesday\u2019s release of its LauncherOne rocket. The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37979,"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":[1932,8953,1551],"class_list":["post-37978","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-cosmic-girl","tag-launcherone-air-launch","tag-virgin-orbit"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37978"}],"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=37978"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37978\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37978"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37978"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37978"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}