--- title: "Virgin Orbit Just Launched a Rocket Strapped to the Wing of a 747" description: "Satellite delivery company Virgin Orbit just flew a Boeing 747 to a lofty height before launching a space rocket strapped to the bottom of one of its wings." date: "2021-06-30" modified: "2021-06-30" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/virgin-orbit-rocket-747" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "richard branson" - "satellite launch" - "the digest" - "virgin" - "virgin orbit" --- # Virgin Orbit Just Launched a Rocket Strapped to the Wing of a 747 ![Satellite delivery company Virgin Orbit just flew a Boeing 747 to a lofty height before launching a space rocket strapped to the bottom of one of its wings.]() *\Image: Virgin Orbit\* ## Virgin Orbit Satellite delivery company Virgin Orbit — not to be confused with the space tourism company Virgin Galactic, though both were started by Richard Branson — just flew a Boeing 747 to a lofty height before launching a space rocket strapped to the bottom of one of its wings. The modified 747, dubbed Cosmic Girl, took off from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California early Wednesday morning with a small rocket in tow. At an altitude of around 33,000 feet, the rocket fired its own engines and took off to low-Earth orbit on its own. The mission, whimsically called "Tubular Bells: Part One," marks the first time Virgin Orbit has launched a payload for paying commercial customers — and the kickoff of a novel way of delivering private satellites into orbit. https://youtu.be/bgL5pMDktxA ## Cosmic Girl Delivery The rocket carried payloads for three customers from three different countries, including the US Department of Defense Space Test Program, Polish satellite company SatRevolution, and the Royal Netherlands Air Force. Virgin Orbit completed its [first successful orbital launch demonstration]() in January when LauncherOne, a rocket strapped to the wing of Cosmic Girl, delivered 10 CubeSats into low-Earth orbit for NASA. LauncherOne failed to reach orbit during a previous attempt in May 2020 due to a ruptured fuel line. Launcher One, a 70-foot rocket, is capable of delivering about 1,100 pounds of payload into orbit. It's a strikingly different approach to delivering private payloads into orbit when compared to SpaceX's tried-and-true method of reusing Falcon 9 rockets. And it may just pay off in the long term, as more and more private companies become interested in launching their own satellites. **READ MORE:** [Tubular Bells: Part One Livestream | Virgin Orbit]() \[YouTube\] **More on Virgin Orbit:** *[Richard Branson Launches New Company to Compete with Elon Musk]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()