(CNN) --
The remote region of Cornwall, in the southwestern corner of England, rarely feels like the center of the world.
But recently residents have felt tantalizingly close as they watched a very special plane fly low, taking off from the runway at Newquay's tiny airport, the UK's 29th largest, and circling the coastal skies before land again.
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It's not just any plane.
It is also not a normal Boeing 747, as it appears from the ground.
In fact, it is the "Queen of the Skies" that is being repurposed to compete in the space race, carrying out test flights before taking part in the UK's first orbital space launch next month.
And it will take off from Spaceport Cornwall, which shares the airport's 1.7-mile regular runway.
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Marc Andrew, from the nearby town of Newquay, traveled to the spaceport after work to see the aircraft land this week.
"It was amazing to watch, and it will be a nice piece of history that I will tell my young son when he is older," he told CNN.
It is now gearing up to return for the November release.
“Cosmic Girl”, as the plane has been baptized, is Virgin Orbit's commitment to launch seven satellites into space.
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It is a former jumbo jet in service with Virgin Atlantic until 2015, which has been modified to carry the LauncherOne, a California-made rocket that will be put into Earth orbit.
Cosmic Girl, a former Virgin Atlantic 747, will launch from Cornwall, UK.
Credit: Virgin Orbit
Next month, "Cosmic Girl" will take off from the Newquay airstrip with LauncherOne under its wing, and once the 747 reaches 34,000 feet, it will release the rocket.
Inside it will be seven payloads, or satellites, that will begin to circle the planet in low Earth orbit.
In a test last year, the rocket, released from the 747's left wing, shot up to 17,000 miles per hour into space.
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A test flight for the locals
Using a 747 for a horizontal launch allows for a "wider range of orbits than would be possible with a traditional ground-launched system," Virgin Orbit wrote in a statement.
The event will be the first orbital space launch for the UK and the first international launch for Virgin Orbit, according to the company.
It will also be the first satellite launch in Europe, according to Ian Annett, deputy director general of the UK Space Agency.
LauncherOne completed its first full launch rehearsal in Long Beach, California on October 2 before being flown to the UK last Friday to reunite with Cosmic Girl, who arrived in Cornwall on October 11.
Cosmic Girl completed a nearly three-hour test flight around Cornwall and south-west England on October 14, and Cornishmen watched it fly low over their gardens.
Rocket LauncherOne has joined Cosmic Girl at Newquay Spaceport.
Credit: Virgin Orbit
Virgin Orbit Chief Pilot Matthew Stannard, who will fly the 747 for the launch, said: "It's an amazing feeling to bring Cosmic Girl home to the UK. We are weeks away from the first UK launch at Spaceport Cornwall, So it's all very real."
Melissa Thorpe, director of Spaceport Cornwall, said: "Seeing the infrastructure in place makes our launch ambitions a reality."
Do you hope to see more Cosmic Girls?
Virgin Orbit plans horizontal launches in Australia, Brazil, Japan, Poland and the Republic of Korea.
Virgin Galactic