Gallery: Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne Rocket for Satellite Missions

News
By ( space.com-spaceflight ) published

Conceptual Illustration of LauncherOne

Virgin Galactic

Conceptual illustration of LauncherOne. Image released July 10, 2012.

Conceptual Illustration of LauncherOne in Flight

Virgin Galactic

Conceptual illustration of LauncherOne in flight.

Satellite Released from LauncherOne

Virgin Galactic

Conceptual illustration of a satellite after being released from LauncherOne. Image released July 10, 2012.

LauncherOne test article

Virgin Orbit

A LauncherOne test article — an entire vehicle except for payload fairing and fins — leaves Virgin Orbit's Long Beach, California, factory for integrated stage testing.

Virgin Orbit's Cosmic Girl with pylon

Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit's "Cosmic Girl" aircraft during a test flight to study the aerodynamic characteristics of the LauncherOne pylon attached to its left wing.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Space.com Staff
Space.com Staff
News and editorial team

Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. Originally founded in 1999, Space.com is, and always has been, the passion of writers and editors who are space fans and also trained journalists. Our current news team consists of Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik; Editor Hanneke Weitering, Senior Space Writer Mike Wall; Senior Writer Meghan Bartels; Senior Writer Chelsea Gohd, Senior Writer Tereza Pultarova and Staff Writer Alexander Cox, focusing on e-commerce. Senior Producer Steve Spaleta oversees our space videos, with Diana Whitcroft as our Social Media Editor. 

More about spaceflight

Pine Barrens ablaze as seen from orbit | Space photo of the day for April 28, 2025

SpaceX launches 250th Starlink satellite mission, lands rocket at sea (video, photos)

Brand-new Falcon 9 rocket sends 23 Starlink satellites to orbit on SpaceX's 2nd launch of the day
See more latest
Most Popular
A SpaceX Falcon 9 roket launches 23 Starlink satellites from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on April 28, 2025.
Brand-new Falcon 9 rocket sends 23 Starlink satellites to orbit on SpaceX's 2nd launch of the day
a rocket blasts off against a hazy sky
Amazon launches 27 satellites to begin building huge 'Project Kuiper' internet constellation (video)
The European Space Agency's Biomass satellite is stacked atop its Arianespace Vega-C rocket ahead of a planned April 29, 2025 launch.
Watch Vega-C rocket launch European forest-monitoring satellite to orbit on April 29
smoke emanating from a large wildfire is seen spreading for miles as imaged by a satellite in Earth orbit
Pine Barrens ablaze as seen from orbit | Space photo of the day for April 28, 2025
a rocket launches aganist a blue sky
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 1st of 2 planned Starlink launches in 2 days, lands booster at sea (video)
an astronaut in a white space suit smiles and gives a thumbs up as he is carried across a field in a chair immediately after landing on earth
'I didn't look too good because I didn't feel too good': NASA astronaut Don Pettit explains why he seemed so unwell after landing (video)
The Shenzhou 19 astronauts hand control of China's Tiangong space station over to their Shenzhou 20 counterparts during a ceremony on April 27, 2025.
China's Shenzhou 20 astronauts take control of Tiangong space station (video)
Screenshot from The Outer Worlds 2
The Outer Worlds 2: Release window, trailers, story details & everything else we know
A purple haze above the NYC skyline. The moon looks quite small compared to the haze.
Scientists find giant, hidden gas cloud only 300 light-years away: 'This cloud is literally glowing in the dark'
a black hole in a swirling blue and white sky
NYT bestselling author Daniel Wilson's next book is 'Hole in the Sky,' an alien first contact story on a Cherokee reservation, and it's already been picked up by Netflix (interview)