in just over two hours, the first ever orbital space launch from british soil will blast off. the company behind the operation is the california based virgin orbit, founded by sir richard branson. the british entrepreneur has had one of his old passenger airliners converted to carry a rocket, called launcherone, beneath its left wing. the plane will take off from newquay airport in southwest england and head west over the atlantic, to a designated launch zone off the coast of ireland. at the appropriate moment, at an altitude of 35,000ft, the aircraft will release the rocket. its first stage engine will then ignite and begin its climb into orbit. the bbc sjenny kumah was at the launch site earlier today. because a fully fuelled rocket is a heavy load, the plane s lower deck has been completely stripped to save weight. two flight engineers will sit at consoles to monitor the launch. the bbc s rebecca morelle had a look. here in the cockpit are all the usual controls that you need to
a cheaper and more flexible way to get satellites into orbit and boost the uk s satellite industry. here s the uk space agency s view. we are absolutely fantastic at designing satellites and building satellites. i always use the heuristic that we build more satellites here in the uk than anywhere outside the us. and we re also great at operating satellites as well as exploiting the data, which is a really, really important end of it as well. so we re kind of on a journey, and this helps us with thatjourney and fills what i call that end to end capability. so you can do everything. the small satelites being taken into orbit can be used for civilian and military purposes. here s british astronaut tim peake. yeah, there s a huge growing market for small satellites. these are kind of cube sats. the total payload may be about 300 kilograms for what this rocket can launch, and it s going into a very, very useful orbit. you might not think the uk is a very good place for launching satellites,
yeah, there s a huge growing market for small satellites. these are kind of cube sats. the total payload may be about 300 kilograms for what this rocket can launch, and it s going into a very, very useful orbit. you might not think the uk is a very good place for launching satellites, but into a sun synchronous orbit, that s almost from the north pole to the south pole. that makes it a very useful orbit for things like earth observation, climate data, weather and also intelligence gathering, communications, navigation as well. that s tim peake. i m joined now byjosh western, ceo of space forge. and we are joined by the uk s science minister, george freeman. mr freeman, if i can start with you, how big a moment is this for the science and space sector in the uk? this is a huge moment for the uk space this is a huge moment for the uk space sector and space economy, for three space sector and space economy, for three reasons. firstly, space is the
and the uk space agency. the small sattelites being taken into orbit can be used for civilian and military purposes. british astronaut tim peake said there is a increasing demand for these devices. there is a huge growing market for small satellites. these are cube sacs. the total payload may be about 300 kilograms for what this rocket can launch. and it s going into a very useful orbit. you might not think uk is a very good place for launching satellites but enter a sun synchronous orbit, that s almost from the north pole to the south pole. that makes it a very useful orbit for things like earth observation, climate data, weather and also intelligence gathering, communication and navigation as well. in a moment we can speak to professor of astrophysics and space science at space park leicester martin barstow, but first we ll hear from our science correspondent
in cardiff in wales. the satellite that we are launching today, the forgestar o, is the first satellite designed and built in wales, and the opportunity tojust hop along the m5 and the a30 instead of having to send a team down to florida to produce the satellite and get it into orbit is really a phenomenal opportunity for us because it offers us unparalleled flexibility in really being able to deliver for our customers. best of luck to everyone involved in that launch. before we wrap up, the welsh player gareth bale has announced his retirement from all football at the age of 33. five time champions league winner with real madrid, some described him as wales s finest footballer ever. he said he feels incredibly fortunate to have realised playing for the sport he loves. it will be impossible to replicate in 17 seasons, no matter what the next chapter has in store for him. you