Waspie_Dwarf Posted December 7, 2015 #1 Share Posted December 7, 2015 (edited) Virgin Galactic Welcomes "Cosmic Girl" To Fleet Of Space Access Vehicles LAUNCHERONE PROGRAM TO USE DEDICATED 747-400 AIRCRAFT TO RESPONSIVELY AIR-LAUNCH SMALL SATELLITE CUSTOMER PAYLOADS San Antonio, TX - December 3, 2015 - Virgin Galactic introduced the newest addition to its fleet of vehicles today as part of a technical update on its LauncherOne small satellite launch service. The 747- 400 commercial jet aircraft, previously operated by Virgin Atlantic under the nickname "Cosmic Girl," will provide a dedicated launch platform for the LauncherOne orbital vehicle. Sir Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic engineers announced the acquisition of the aircraft while providing an update on LauncherOne development progress."Air launch enables us to provide rapid, responsive service to our satellite customers on a schedule set by their business and operational needs, rather than the constraints of national launch ranges,” said George Whitesides, Virgin Galactic CEO. "Selecting the 747 airframe provides a dedicated platform that gives us the capacity to substantially increase our payload to orbit without increasing our prices." Read more... Edited March 18, 2016 by Waspie_Dwarf typos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted March 18, 2016 Author #2 Share Posted March 18, 2016 "Cosmic Girl" 747 Modifications Underway In December, we announced that we are now the proud owners of a 747-400, a part of our growing fleet of air and space vehicles. This beautiful airplane, coincidentally nicknamed Cosmic Girl, will serve as the dedicated carrier aircraft for our small satellite launch service, LauncherOne. Beginning well before that announcement, we’d begun the hard work of getting Cosmic Girl ready for service. Today, we’re happy to share an update on our favorite 747. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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