1st test launch by Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit postponed
In this photo provided by Virgin Orbit, a rocket is dropped from a Boeing 747 airplane flying above Edwards Air Force Base in California, Wednesday, July 10, 2019. The "drop test," which did not involve firing the rocket motor, was part of a test of
MOJAVE, Calif. - Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit postponed its first space launch Sunday due to a technical problem.
The company said one sensor was “acting up" and fuel was being offloaded from the rocket in Mojave, California, to address what it termed a minor issue.
“This means we are scrubbed for today," it said in its social media post.
Virgin Orbit Girl performed its first-ever drop test today Wednesday Mojave CA. July 10,2019. The releasing a LauncherOne rocket from its Boeing 747 carrier plane over California's Mojave Desert. Photo by Gene Blevins/ZumaPress.
A backup launch window was available Monday morning but the company did not immediately announce its revised plan for the inaugural use of its air launch system.
Virgin Orbit's rocket is carried beneath the wing of a Boeing 747 that will take off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles and fly out over the Pacific Ocean.
The rocket will be released and its motor will ignite a few seconds later to propel a dummy satellite into low Earth orbit.
This Sunday, April 12, 2020 photo provided by Virgin Orbit shows a Boeing 747 with a rocket slung beneath a wing in its final major test before an upcoming demonstration of its system in which the rocket will be carried aloft and launched. The jumbo
Virgin Orbit, based in Long Beach, California, is a sister company to Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company preparing to carry passengers on suborbital flights over New Mexico.