Under development by Virgin Orbit since 2007, LauncherOne is an air-launched rocket for small satellite payloads. The launch date was Monday, May 25, 2020, at 7:50 PM (UTC).

Unlike other companies, Virgin Orbit uses a heavily modified 747 named Cosmic Girl as the launch platform for its rockets. Basically, they attach their rocket to the belly of Cosmic Girl, fly out over the ocean in a racetrack pattern, and at the appropriate time, release the rocket. A few seconds later, the engine on the rocket ignites, and off it goes.

All of the prelaunch activities – the trip to the test area, the final countdown, and the release – worked perfectly. They had a clean release, and LauncherOne successfully ignited its booster engine, a first for Virgin Orbit.

Shortly after ignition, there was an anomaly in the first stage of flight and the mission was aborted. Cosmic Girl and its crew returned to the Mojave Air and Space Port without further incident.

While they didn’t make it to orbit, Virgin Orbit is still very happy with the test because they were able to gather data on how the first stage performed, the aerodynamics, and their control algorithms, which will allow them to make changes before their next test.

Their next rocket is almost finished being constructed and there’s another six for follow-on missions. They’ve got all of these rockets being built at the same time to allow them to do a number of tests in rapid succession.

More Information

Virgin Orbit launch article 

Virgin Orbit mission recap blog