Watch the Launch

Additional Media

Tubular Bells, Part One Livestream | Virgin Orbit

Following the team’s successful orbital launch demonstration in January, “Tubular Bells: Part One” marks the next big step in Virgin Orbit’s commercial servi...

Tubular Bells, Part One

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Dedicated Rideshare

Low Earth Orbit Mojave Air and Space Port Air launch to orbit

The mission includes three cubesats for US Department of Defense which are launched as a part of the DoS Space Test Program (STP); the Netherland's first military satellite, a cubesat called BRIK II; and two optical satellites, STORK-4 and STORK-5, for SatRevolution's STORK constellation. The mission name, "Tubular Bells, Part One", references the first music album released by Virgin Records label in the 1970s. The label was established by Virgin Orbit CEO Richard Branson.

Updates

spacevogel • June 30, 2021, 5:33 p.m.

Launch success confirmed


Nosu • June 30, 2021, 2:48 p.m.

LauncherOne has separated from Cosmic Girl and ignited its first stage.


Nosu • June 30, 2021, 8:46 a.m.

Launch window 14:00-16:00 UTC based on takeoff time.


Cosmic_Penguin • June 28, 2021, 2:58 a.m.

NOTAMs issued.


Cosmic_Penguin • June 24, 2021, 12:53 a.m.

New launch date.


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

Arstechnica

Virgin Orbit suddenly has a viable rocket, so what comes next?

"We’re in a different world where we were six months ago."

SpaceNews

Virgin Orbit launches cubesats on second operational mission

Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne successfully launched seven cubesats June 30 in the second operational mission of the air-launch system.

NASA Spaceflight

LauncherOne lofts defense and commercial satellites on first operational flight

Small satellite launch company Virgin Orbit has successfully launched it’s LauncherOne rocket on its first operational flight since wrapping up its flight test program earlier this year. Launch occurred at 7:47 AM PDT (14:47 UTC), within t…

NASA Spaceflight

Virgin Orbit names next mission and expands operations to Brazil

Following the first successful launch of LauncherOne in January, Virgin Orbit is aiming for their next mission to lift off in June. While the launch campaign is underway, the small satellite launch provider continues to secure additional l…

SpaceNews

Virgin Orbit schedules next LauncherOne mission for June

Virgin Orbit has scheduled its next LauncherOne mission for June, carrying a mix of defense and commercial cubesats.

Air launch to orbit

Mojave Air and Space Port


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 15 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, 2 hours 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, 1 hour 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, 19 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.


Long March 2
Success
2 weeks ago
SuperView Neo 1-03 & 04
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Commercial Earth observation satellites (~540 kg each) built by CAST for China Siwei Survey and Mapping Technology Co. Ltd., with resolution down to …