Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Virgin Orbit announces Start Me Up mission from UK | Virgin

The countdown to Cornwall is on for Virgin Orbit as it gets ready for its historic launch from the UK, Start Me Up.

Start Me Up

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Earth Science

Low Earth Orbit Spaceport Cornwall Air launch to orbit

7 payloads for government and private customers. This mission is the first launch from the United Kingdom.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 9, 2023, 11:57 p.m.

Launch failed.


SwGustav • Jan. 9, 2023, 11:11 p.m.

Drop and ignition confirmed


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 9, 2023, 10:21 p.m.

Updated T-0 post-take off


SwGustav • Jan. 9, 2023, 9:18 p.m.

Coverage live


Cosmic_Penguin • Jan. 7, 2023, 5:51 p.m.

Updated NET rocket dropping & ignition time.


LauncherOne

Family:
Configuration: One

LauncherOne is a two stage orbital launch vehicle developed by Virgin Orbit since 2007. It is an air launch to orbit rocket, designed to launch "smallsat" payloads of 300 kilograms (660 lb) into a Sun-synchronous orbit, following air launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude.

Specifications
  • Stages
    2
  • Length
    16.0 m
  • Diameter
    1.6 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    1.3 m
  • Launch Mass
    30.0 T
  • Thrust
    327.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    LauncherOne
  • Family
  • Variant
    One
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    LauncherOne
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    $12000000
  • Low Earth Orbit
    500.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    300.0 kg

Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit

(VO)

President: Dan Hart Founded: 2017 Successes: 4 Failures: 2 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

Virgin Orbit is a company within the Virgin Group which plans to provide launch services for small satellites. The company was formed in 2017 to develop the air-launched LauncherOne rocket, launched from Cosmic Girl, which had previously been a project of Virgin Galactic. Based in Long Beach, California, Virgin Orbit has more than 300 employees led by president Dan Hart, a former vice president of government satellite systems at Boeing. Virgin Orbit focuses on small satellite launch, which is one of three capabilities being focused on by Virgin Galactic. These capabilities are: human spaceflight operations, small satellite launch, and advanced aerospace design, manufacturing, and test

INFO WIKI

Related News

SpaceNews

Report outlines lessons learned from first U.K. launch

Nearly a year after the failed Virgin Orbit launch from England, United Kingdom government officials remain optimistic about the prospects for building up a launch industry in the country.

SpaceNews

UK funds surveillance satellite replacement lost in Virgin Orbit failure

The U.K. is funding nearly half the cost of replacing the government-backed cubesat that British maritime surveillance venture Horizon Technologies lost in January in Virgin Orbit’s final launch attempt before bankruptcy.

SpaceNews

Spaceport Cornwall expands facilities following Virgin Orbit failure

Spaceport Cornwall, which provided the runway for Virgin Orbit’s failed launch from the U.K. in January, opened a new operations facility April 27 to attract more businesses in the wake of its flagship customer’s bankruptcy.

SpaceNews

Virgin Orbit completes LauncherOne investigation as Chapter 11 bankruptcy continues

Virgin Orbit says it is moving ahead with plans to return its LauncherOne rocket to flight later this year even though there is no certainty the company will emerge from bankruptcy.

SpaceNews

Virgin Orbit elaborates on potential cause of LauncherOne failure

irgin Orbit provided additional details about the likely cause of its LauncherOne failure last month but didn’t estimate when the vehicle will be ready to return to flight.

Air launch to orbit

Spaceport Cornwall


Falcon 9
Success
14 hours, 47 minutes ago
Starlink Group 12-21
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 14 hours ago
SPHEREx & PUNCH
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

SPHEREx is a planned two-year astrophysics mission to survey the sky in the near-infrared light, which, though not visible to the human eye, serves a…


Long March 8
Success
2 days ago
G60 Polar Group 05
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

18 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites with Ku, Q and V band payloads for the G60 constellation operated by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technolo…


Long March 3
Success
4 days ago
TJSW-15
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Starship
Failure
6 days, 17 hours ago
Flight 8
Orbital Launch Mount A - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

Eighth test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle.


Ariane 62
Success
1 week ago
CSO-3
Ariane Launch Area 4 - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

The CSO-3 (Composante Spatiale Optique-3 satellite is the third of three new-generation high-resolution optical imaging satellites for the French mil…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Starlink Group 12-20
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Glonass-K2 No. 14 (Kosmos 2584)
43/3 (43L) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Glonass-K2 are the fourth generation of satellite design for GLONASS satellite navigation system. GLONASS is a Russian space-based navigation system …


Kuaizhou
Failure
1 week, 5 days ago
Unknown Payload
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Details TBD.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
Progress MS-30 (91P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.