JAKARTA - Virgin Orbit launched a rocket carrying seven satellites from California's Mojave Air and Space Port Saturday morning July 2 at 01:49 ET (12:49 WIB), marking the first successful small satellite launcher night mission.
The company brings the satellite into low-Earth orbit with the help of a Boeing 747 transport plane called Cosmic Girl, which has a LauncherOne rocket mounted under one of its wings.
Time's standing still…I keep getting chills🎶There she goes! Cosmic Girl successfully carried our Straight Up mission to orbit last night and lit up a black night with hope aboard and brilliant @Virgin red lights. https://t.co/v9O7Ny89B8 pic.twitter.com/9cYzlaH6z5
— Virgin Orbit (@VirginOrbit) July 2, 2022
The mission, called Straight Up after Paula Abdul's 1988 song title, also involved seven research satellites as part of NASA's Space Test Program.
As with previous missions, Virgin Orbit propelled the satellite into space by having Cosmic Girl bring its LauncherOne rocket 35,000 feet above the ground, giving it an edge before the rocket detaches and launches its payload into orbit.
Virgin Orbit initially postponed the mission on Thursday, May 30 after finding that its rocket propellant temperature was "a little out of bounds."
“Congratulations to our team for completing another successful mission into space today! We deployed a total of seven subscriber satellites to Low Earth Orbit as planned. #Straight up.” — Virgin Orbit (@VirginOrbit) Jul 2, 2022
Virgin Orbit has made five launch attempts in total, but failed only once during its first test flight in May 2020. The project has been rolling since it first reached orbit in January 2021, put a set of satellites into orbit in June 2021 and has not yet completed a mission. another earlier this year. Virgin Orbit's Straight Up mission is the company's fourth successful flight to date.
Virgin Orbit is owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, in contrast to Virgin Galactic, a separate branch of the company for commercial space flights. The company went public through the SPAC (special purpose acquisition company) merger last year. Despite having completed all of its launches from Southern California so far, Virgin Orbit plans to lift off from Cornwall, England later this year.
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