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Launch SuccessfulVirgin Orbit

LauncherOne: Above the Clouds

Mission to a 500 km circular orbit inclined at 45 degrees carrying eight R&D satellites from US government agencies with communications and navigation experiments as well as two Earth-observation nanosatellites from Polish company SatRevolution.

Thursday, 13 January 2022
LauncherOne: Above the Clouds

Mission Data

Virgin Orbit
🇺🇸Virgin OrbitEst. 2017
Launch VehicleLauncherOne
Vehicle Record4 of 6 launches (66.7%)
Provider TypeCommercial
Agency Record4 successes / 2 failures (67%)
Mission TypeCommunications
Target OrbitLow Earth Orbit
Launch PadMojave Air and Space Port
LocationAir launch to orbit ???
Orbital Launches This Year#3
Agency Launches This Year#1
Launches From This Pad5
Launches From This Site52
Status Note

The launch vehicle successfully inserted its payload(s) into the target orbit(s).

About LauncherOne

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.

Launch updates

  1. Launch success.

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  2. Updating the window

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  3. Now targeting January 13.

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  4. Updated launch time.

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  5. NET January 12

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  6. Launch now planned in January 2022.

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  7. New launch date/time per marine space closure notices, to be officially confirmed.

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  8. Mentioning of this launch in USCG local warning messages has been removed.

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  9. Launch date and window updated per USCG marine space closure notices.

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  10. New mission name “Above The Clouds” confirmed.

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Launch Site

Mojave Air and Space Port · 35.0594°N 118.1517°W

Launch data from Launch Library 2 by The Space Devs.