“LauncherOne has reached orbit!” Richard
Branson’s Virgin Orbit soars into space eight months after the
first demonstration flight failed, the company says. https://t.co/zqzOHRLlxd
— The Associated Press (@AP)
January 17, 2021
维珍集团旗下的维珍轨道首次成功将卫星送上轨道，而且是用飞机搭载火箭在空中发射。
Today’s sequence of events for
#LaunchDemo2 went exactly to plan, from safe execution of our
ground ops all the way through successful full duration burns on
both engines. To say we’re thrilled would be a massive
understatement, but 240 characters couldn’t do it justice anyway.
pic.twitter.com/ZKpoi7hkGN
— Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit)
January 18, 2021
维珍集团旗下的维珍轨道（Virgin
Orbit）创下公司里程碑，于美西时间17日上午10时50分首次成功将卫星送上轨道，而且是用飞机搭载火箭在空中发射，跟一般的陆基火箭不太一样，形成相当罕见的场景。
“Looks like the blue skies went to black!”
We are overjoyed to share this new video of our Launch Demo 2
flight. The adrenaline is still flowing after we aced this flight
and delivered satellites for nine different @NASA and
university teams exactly to their target orbit. pic.twitter.com/nVX21hXywi
— Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit)
January 18, 2021
据《BBC》报导，维珍创办人布兰森（Richard
Branson）希望抢占低成本小型卫星市场，而将飞机当成发射平台，理论上就能够在全球各地直接射出火箭，因此维珍轨道改装了波音747巨无霸客机并将火箭装在机翼下。
Our favorite rocket is orbiting our favorite
planet! No sweeter feeling. pic.twitter.com/bIPmUMW316
— Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit)
January 18, 2021
被昵称为「宇宙少女（Cosmic
Girl）」的波音747，从美国加州莫哈韦沙漠升空后飞向太平洋，于1万500公尺高空巡航时向右并向后倾斜，将21公尺长的火箭射向太空。
With operations for our
#LaunchDemo2 mission already in full swing, it’s an exciting
morning here at Mojave Air and Space Port!
LOX loading on the rocket has begun, and we’re looking good to hit
our target takeoff time of approximately 10:30 AM Pacific. pic.twitter.com/naBppEJRhD
— Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit)
January 17, 2021
过了好几个小时，指挥中心确认卫星已正确部署，维珍轨道执行长哈特（Dan
Hart）表示，通往太空的新方式刚刚出现了，这次的成功无疑证明了维珍轨道火箭团队的才能、准确性和独创性。
维珍曾在去年5月试射这款空射火箭，但当时却发生火箭推进剂管线破裂的问题，无法向推进器供应液态氮，使得发射行动功败垂成，而这次完全顺利。
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