If conditions on Sunday hold, the Long Beach, California-based company's 21-metre LauncherOne rocket will be dropped from the wing of a modified Boeing Co 747 nicknamed CosmicGirl at nearly 12,200 metres in the air.
The window for the launch test originating from the Mojave Air and Space Port in southern California begins on Sunday at 1 p.m. EST . Competition is fierce between Virgin Orbit, Firefly and U.S.-New Zealand company Rocket Lab, which are designing smaller or non-traditional systems to inject smaller satellites into orbit and meet growing demand.
The rocket ignited its NewtonThree engine for a few seconds but cut off mid-air due to a broken propellant line, Virgin Orbit's Chief Executive Dan Hart said in July.
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