Start Me Up - Virgin Orbit launches Britain's first rocket next week

Early next week, Virgin Orbit will write its name in British history. It plans to launch a rocket into space from a British spaceport.

Here's What We Know

On Jan. 10 at 18:16 (EDT) or 15:16 (PDT), the Start Me Up mission will take off. The Virgin Orbit rocket will be launched from the Cornwall Cosmodrome. In the event of technical problems or inclement weather, the company will set a new date, also in January.

The LauncherOne rocket will send satellites from seven organizations (private and government) into orbit. Among them is the Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment (CIRCE). This is a project of the U.K. Defense Science and Technology Laboratory and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. Also on board will be a duo of British Prometheus-2 satellites for the U.K. Ministry of Defense.

The role of the first stage is played by an aircraft called Cosmic Girl. It is a Boeing 747-400, which was bought by Virgin several years ago.

Source: Engadget