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


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
1 day, 21 hours ago
Progress MS-31 (92P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Long March 4C
Success
2 days, 7 hours ago
Shiyan 28 B-01
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Satellite officially named for "space environment detection" purposes, exact details unknown.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 10 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-25
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 19 hours ago
MTG-S1
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Second of EUMETSAT's third generation of weather satellite.


New Shepard
Success
6 days, 2 hours ago
NS-33
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-33 is the 13th crewed flight for the New Shepard program and the 33rd in its history.


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 23 hours ago
Starlink Group 15-7
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H-IIA
Success
1 week ago
GOSAT-GW (Ibuki GW)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-1 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

GOSAT-GW (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite Greenhouse gases and Water cycle), also known as Ibuki GW and formerly known as GOSAT 3, is JAXA's nex…


Electron
Success
1 week ago
Symphony In The Stars
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

'Symphony In The Stars' is the first of two dedicated missions on Electron to deploy a single spacecraft to a 650km circular Earth orbit for a confid…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 10-34
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
Get The Hawk Outta Here (4x HawkEye 360)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

HawkEye 360 is a a space-based civil global intelligence satellite network using radio frequency (RF) technology to help monitor transportation acros…