Virgin Orbit put satellites into orbit for the first time. For this purpose, the company detached and detonated a liquid fuel rocket from an airplane flying off the coast of California on Sunday afternoon (California time). Ten small satellites were on board for the “Launch Demo 2” mission.

These are One satellite each from eight American universities and one satellite tandem from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. NASA is paying for the launch, which should actually have taken place in December. At that time, however, the coronavirus pandemic forced important Virgin Orbit employees into quarantine.

Horizontal takeoff from the air Virgin Orbit uses a Boeing 747 and attaches a two-stage rocket called the LauncherOne to its underside. This rocket has a payload of up to 300 kilograms and is supposed to bring satellites into sun-synchronous orbits. Last May, Virgin Orbit detonated one of these space rockets in the air for the first time, back then without any real satellites on board. The Virgin Group and other shareholders hold further shares in the listed group. Both Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit want to launch missiles mounted on the underside of an aircraft.

While Virgin Orbit is carrying satellites and its subsidiary VOX Space is to launch military satellites, Virgin Galactic is planning people for several Minutes to bring in or close to space. These tourist space flights should actually have started 14 years ago.

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