Virgin Orbit's "Cosmic Girl," a retrofitted Boeing 747 plane, is scheduled for a horizontal launch into orbit Monday night from the United Kingdom's Spaceport Cornwall. The mission, dubbed Start Me Up, is the first orbital launch in both the UK and Western Europe. It's also the culmination of a yearslong effort by the country to enter the modern space race.
Cosmic Girl has a payload of nine small satellites from several customers, including the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the U.K. Ministry of Defence, and the government of Oman.
Don't expect the same fanfare as some recent space launches. Horizontal space launches are generally more seamless. Cosmic Girl will take off like a normal plane, fly to around 35,000 feet above the southern coast of Ireland, and then deploy the LauncherOne rocket.
The LauncherOne is a so-called air-launched rocket. Launched from a carrier aircraft at high altitudes, the rocket is able to deliver small payloads of satellites into orbit. Virgin Orbit developed the concept over years, and started putting it into use in 2021.
Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the UK Space Agency, has heralded the launch as an "iconic moment" — though it's not technically England's first. The agency completed a mission, called the Black Arrow, back in 1971, but the launch actually took place in Australia.
This is Virgin Orbit's sixth launch. The private space company had initially planned six for 2022, but lowered its forecast amid financial troubles. The company recently announced plans to raise $25 million to refill its shrinking cash reserves.
The NFL says 7,500 health care workers vaccinated for the coronavirus will be given free tickets to next month’s Super Bowl to be played in Tampa, Florida.
President Joe Biden is putting into play his national COVID-19 strategy to ramp up vaccinations and testing, reopen schools and businesses, and increase the use of masks.
Drugmaker Eli Lilly says its COVID-19 antibody drug can prevent illness among residents and staff of nursing homes and other long-term care locations.
Telehealth company Hims & Hers is making its stock market debut after completing a merger with special purpose acquisition vehicle Oaktree Acquisition Corp.
President Joe Biden’s top adviser on the pandemic says the United States will again fund the World Health Organization and join its consortium aimed at sharing coronavirus vaccines fairly around the globe.
The push to inoculate Americans against the coronavirus is hitting a roadblock: A number of states are reporting they are running out of vaccine.
The Canadian company behind the Keystone XL oil pipeline says it has suspended work on the pipeline in in anticipation of incoming U.S. President Joe Biden revoking its permit.
U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams spoke to Cheddar about the need to speed up the vaccination process as more mutated variants of the novel coronavirus present themselves.
Cheddar explains the meteorological phenomenon called the jet stream.
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus has eclipsed 400,000 in the waning hours in office for President Donald Trump, whose handling of the crisis has been judged by public health experts to be a singular failure.
