First Mate: Virgin Takes Step Forward with First Mating of LauncherOne Rocket and Cosmic Girl 747, Virgin Orbit “Today at Long Beach Airport stands a 747 aircraft with a rocket under its wing. For the first time ever, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket has been integrated with its carrier aircraft, marking a major milestone on the path to the innovative small satellite launch service’s first space shot. The successful operation capped […]

Virgin Galactic Appoints Richard DalBello as Vice President of Business Development and Government Affairs “In this role, Richard will be responsible for managing business development focusing on LauncherOne, the company’s dedicated orbital launch vehicle for small satellites. Richard will be also responsible for managing the company’s interactions with the US government.”

Virgin Galactic Conducts Successful Test Firings of LauncherOne Liquid Rocket Engine “As part of a rapid development program, Virgin Galactic has now hot-fired both a 3,500 lbf thrust rocket engine and a 47,500 lbf thrust rocket engine, called the “NewtonOne” and “NewtonTwo” respectively. Further, the NewtonOne engine has successfully completed a full-mission duty cycle on the test stand, firing for the five-minute duration expected of the upper stage engine on […]