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Virgin Orbits Boeing test flight
Photo: Matt Hartman/ AP
The launch of the first space rocket from British soil may be in a matter of hours.
The time window for the mission opens on Monday evening, said Dan Hart, head of the British space agency's partner company Virgin Orbit, at a news conference on Sunday.
“We always focus on the beginning of the time window.
Right now everything is green.« The rocket is to be refueled on Sunday evening.
If everything goes according to plan, the mission called "Start Me Up" should begin on Monday evening at 11:16 p.m. CET.
According to Virgin Orbit, all tests had previously been successful.
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Whether the rocket can actually launch depends, among other things, on the weather, said Hart: “If there is wind, precipitation or thunderstorms in the area, we will take a very close look at it.
We will proceed cautiously.”
Western Europe's first rocket mission was due to launch before Christmas but had to be postponed due to technical problems.
"We knew it wasn't going to be easy when we took this opportunity," Hart commented.
»Doing something for the first time is always difficult.«
Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit rocket, which will first take off by plane from Spaceport Cornwall before continuing under its own power, is expected to put several government and commercial satellites into orbit.
The company uses a converted Boeing 747-400 for this.
According to the plan, this climbs to almost 11,000 meters and releases the LauncherOne, a rocket almost 21 meters long.
»Cosmic Girl« departs from Newquay
After ignition, this makes its way into a low orbit and deploys eight mini-satellites there, which are used for Great Britain's army.
An earth observation satellite from the Sultanate of Oman is also to be launched.
The Boeing, nicknamed "Cosmic Girl," will take off from Cornwall's new spaceport at Newquay, a small airport also used for civilian flights.
If everything goes right.
dpa/joe
