spacetoday.net: LauncherOne launches seven cubesats

LauncherOne launches seven cubesats

Posted: Sat, Jan 15, 2022, 10:58 AM ET (1558 GMT)
LauncherOne launch of the Above the Clouds mission (Virgin Orbit)

Virgin Orbit placed seven cubesats into orbit Thursday on its third operational LauncherOne mission. The company's 747 carrier aircraft took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in California at 4:39 pm EST (2139 GMT), releasing the LauncherOne rocket a little more than an hour later. The company later said all seven payloads were successfully deployed into a mid-inclination orbit. The launch carried satellites for the Defense Department's Space Test Program, Polish smallsat developer SatRevolution and Spire. This was the first of six launches Virgin Orbit has scheduled for this year, including two launches from Spaceport Cornwall in England.