Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:VORB) could launch the first space flight from UK soil from next Wednesday, 14 December.
That date will be the first of its expected launch window for the 'Start Me Up' mission, the company said, according to a report on Twitter, though the weather or technical issues could push the eventual date back further.
The launch from Spaceport Cornwall was originally planned for August and then pushed back to November.
Virgin Orbit says the launch window for its historic flight from Cornwall in the UK will open on Dec. 14.
— Eric Berger (@SciGuySpace) December 6, 2022
Virgin Orbit was recently forced to abandon an attempted fundraising, blaming unfavourable market conditions, having just gone cap-in-hand to founder Sir Richard Branson for a US$25mln cash top-up.
Launch plans
The 'horizontal launch' process will see a converted Boeing jumbo jet launch take off with the LauncherOne rocket carried under one wing, which once a suitable altitude is reached will unclip and zoom up into space, carrying a payload of various satellites while the plane returns to land.
Last month, Spaceport Cornwall, which shares the runway of Newquay Airport, was granted the first UK spaceport licence by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
It has a licence to host 'horizontal' launches, such as those carried out by Virgin Orbit using a jumbo yet and the launch next week will be the first of its kind on European soil.
The company has been carrying out ‘wet dress’ rehearsals for the mission in recent weeks.
Vertical launches planned
The sort of vertical launches more generally associated with space rockets are also planned in the UK, with Scotland likely to see the first.
Skyrora last year signed a multi-launch agreement with the SaxaVord spaceport on the Shetlands for what was hoped at the time would be the UK's first vertical launch, though it experienced problems with a recent test launch.
It may have been overtaken by Orbex, which recently took control of the nearly-complete Sutherland spaceport in the Scottish Highlands and plans to blast off for the first time next year.