Enlarge / A dedicated 747-400 aircraft will carry Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne to an altitude of approximately 35,000 feet before release for its rocket-powered flight to orbit. (credit: Virgin Orbit)
Welcome to Edition 3.28 of the Rocket Report, our very first of 2021, and a Happy New Year for what promises to be a great year for rockets! We start January off as busy as can be with a Space Launch System hot-fire test, likely another Starship flight, followed by a second orbital attempt by LauncherOne.
As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.
Virgin Orbit sets date for second launch attempt. After delaying its Launch Demo 2 mission from December due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Virgin Orbit announced a new window opening from 7am to 10am PT (15:00-18:00 UTC) on Wednesday, January 13th. Should there be an issue, the company said it had additional opportunities later in the month.
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