The second time was a charm for Richard Branson, whose Virgin Orbit company successfully launched a craft into space over the weekend.
Sunday’s launch in California was a demonstration of the 70-foot-long LauncherOne rocket, which carried a satellite into space after it was released from the bottom of a Boeing 747. A previous attempt to demonstrate the rocket in May 2020 failed when it lost power moments after launching.
Virgin Orbit launches 10 satellites to orbit in landmark test flight https://t.co/xUlNf6N5B5 pic.twitter.com/qFuHRpVry7
— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) January 18, 2021
Virgin Orbit is run separately from Branson’s Virgin Galactic, which is expected to eventually take civilians on trips into space.
Do you hope to buy a ticket for a Virgin Galactic flight? Is the U.S. playing with fire by letting private companies launch vessels into space?
