Launching Satellites From 747 Planes
Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit Air Launch System Source: Virgin Orbit's 747 with rocket under its wing Close to Commercial Launches - Aiming for Summer's End Virgin Orbit, Richard Branson's second space company, expects to perform its first commercial satellite launch from a modified 747 aircraft by the end of this summer. The company just successfully completed a test on the modified 747 over the Mojave Desert. It dropped a fake rocket from tens of thousands of feet. The 747 is named Cosmic Girl. It carries the company's LaunchOne Rocket under its wing. Cosmic Girl's Differentiator There are a lot of key players in the commercial space launch industry including Elon Musk's Space X and Rocket Lab. What differentiates Virgin Orbit is that it is an air launch, not a ground based, launch system like Space X and Rocket Lab. Air Born Rocket Launches Virgin Orbit fires off a rocket from the 747 to launch satellites, which the compa...