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.
Dr. Rick Bright is telling Congress that America faces the “darkest winter in modern history” unless its leaders act decisively to prevent a rebound of the coronavirus.
With grim images of coronavirus frontline workers splashing across screens, the founder of the virtual support group Lyf decided to come up with new ways of helping those struggling during the pandemic.
Josh Morrison, the co-founder of 1 Day Sooner, discussed asking volunteers to sign up for human challenge trials that will expose them to the virus in an effort to study the disease and develop a cure.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that the state is now investigating about 100 cases of the Kawasaki disease-like syndrome. Three children have died.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, is warning Congress and the nation of what he calls "really serious” consequences of suffering, death and deeper economic damage if state and local officials lift stay-at-home orders too quickly.
Dr. Beth Cameron, who is currently vice president of global biology programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, was previously a senior director in the White House pandemic office under the National Security Council.
Under 1% of Major League Baseball employees tested positive for antibodies to COVID-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus. Results were based on 5,603 completed records from employees of 26 clubs.
From Wall Street to Silicon Valley, these are the top stories that moved markets and had investors, business leaders, and entrepreneurs talking this week on Cheddar.
Marketers use a linguistic science called ‘Sound Symbolism’ to aid in naming brands and products. The science focuses on the sounds of words and how they can affect how people perceive a word. Join Cheddar as we examine just how brand names come to be formed and if a brand by any other name is just as lucrative.
The Trump administration has shelved a set of detailed documents created by the nation’s top disease investigators meant to give step-by-step advice to local leaders deciding when and how to reopen public places during the still-raging pandemic.
