How exactly will the launch work, what is being fired into orbit and could humans one day travel to space from Spaceport Cornwall s Newquay Airport base? MailOnline has all the answers.
Virgin Orbit has selected Monday, January 9 as a potential lift-off date from Spaceport Cornwall - more than 70 years after the British Space Programme was established in 1952.
LauncherOne, the 70-foot-long launch vehicle, is due to be packed full of satellites and tucked into the belly of Virgin Orbit s space plane, Cosmic Girl , next month. It arrived in Newquay on Friday night.
Virgin Orbit s Cosmic Girl plane will take off from Newquay with a 70-foot-long rocket packed full of satellites, which will then be flown to high altitude, dropped, and ignited before flying into space.