Watch Live as Virgin Orbit Attempts Its First Nighttime Airplane-Assisted Rocket Launch

Virgin Orbit is getting ready to launch a two-stage rocket that’s carrying treasured payloads for the U.S. Space Force. Known because the “Straight Up” mission, it’s scheduled to start on Thursday at 1:00 a.m. ET from Mojave Air and Space Port in California—and you’ll catch the motion stay proper right here.

Virgin Orbit will livestream the occasion by way of the corporate’s YouTube Channel, which we’ve added under on your comfort. Coverage is anticipated to start at 12:45 a.m. ET on June 30 (9:45 p.m. PT on June 29) and embrace pre-flight operations and launch commentary. You may also comply with alongside for updates by way of Virgin Orbit’s Twitter account.

A Boeing 747-400 service plane named Cosmic Girl will carry the two-stage rocket to excessive altitude. LauncherOne is secured to a pylon situated beneath the plane’s left wing. Once at its goal location some 35,000 feet (10,700 meters) above the Pacific ocean, the aircraft will launch the rocket, which can then proceed on its journey to Earth orbit. LauncherOne will try and ship seven satellites to locations 300 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth’s floor and at a 45-degree inclination.

The satellites belong to a number of authorities companies as a part of the Department of Defense’s Space Test Program and will probably be used to check space-based communications and in-space navigation, and to watch the consequences of local weather change, according to Virgin Orbit. The Straight Up mission is a part of a three-launch Space Force contract awarded to the personal firm in April 2020. Virgin Orbit started working LauncherOne in June 2021 after the rocket efficiently pulled off its second check flight that came about earlier that very same 12 months.

This nighttime launch—the primary for Virgin Orbit—is an effort to increase upon the corporate’s liftoff capabilities. “Our hardware is in top-notch condition, and the team is performing exceptionally, as we prepare for our first night-time launch,” Tyler Grinnell, vice chairman of Test, Flight and Launch for Virgin Orbit, stated in a statement. “The perspective we’ve gained from each previous launch is really paying off now.”

Thursday’s launch will mark the fifth for Virgin Orbit (together with two exams), and the second this 12 months. That stated, the corporate will want to hurry issues up whether it is to ship on its earlier projection of 4 to 6 launches a 12 months.

More: Virgin’s LauncherOne Rocket Reaches Orbit for the First Time and Drops Off NASA Satellites