Three years after refining its low-cost space launch system around a larger, more capable air-dropped rocket vehicle, Virgin Orbit is poised to begin captive-carry tests of the LauncherOne on the company's modified Boeing 747-400 carrier aircraft, "Cosmic Girl."The 70-ft.-long, two-stage rocket was gently lifted into place and connected for the first time to the specially designed pylon under the 747's left wing at the company's Long Beach, California, site on Oct. 24. Virgin Orbit Special Projects Vice President William Pomerantz declared the daylong test mating exercise a success. The event was "all about procedures and showing us that the geometries really work," he says. "It will also show we can connect to the airplane and power up the avionics."
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