Washington: The first space flight from the UK mainland will take off on January 9.
Virgin Orbit has announced that Britain’s historic Start Me Up mission will be launched into Earth’s orbit on January 9.
If the mission cannot be launched due to technical issues or bad weather, it will be launched on another day in January itself.
The United Kingdom’s Civil Aviation Authority issued a license to launch a space mission to Virgin Orbit in December 2022.
Virgin Orbit is working closely with the UK Space Agency (UKSA), the Royal Air Force and Cornwall Council for this mission.
This will be Virgin Orbit’s first international launch mission and also the first commercial space mission from Western Europe.
For this launch, a Boeing 747 aircraft named Cosmic Girl will fly from the spaceport at the Naval Air Station, with Virgin Orbit’s Launcher One rocket under its wings.
It will be released from a rocket plane at an altitude of 35,000 feet in the south of Ireland.
In this mission, 7 satellites will be delivered to the earth’s orbit.
