Virgin Orbit announces LauncherOne system completes end-to-end launch rehearsal

Partners for the United Kingdom’s first orbital launch announced that the initial window for the Start Me Up mission will officially open on Monday, January 9 with additional back-up dates continuing into mid and late January. Start Me Up is a collaborative effort between the United Kingdom Space Agency, or UKSA, Cornwall Council, the Royal Air Force, and Virgin Orbit. The Start Me Up mission will carry satellites from seven customers to space, including commercial and government payloads from several nations and a collaborative US-UK mission. The LauncherOne system that will conduct the mission is now mated to its carrier aircraft, a Boeing 747 dubbed Cosmic Girl, at Spaceport Cornwall. Yesterday morning, Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne system successfully completed an end-to-end launch rehearsal, taking the integrated system through to the loading of propellants and proceeding through terminal count, resulting in the verification of the health of the system and readiness of the team.