Spaceflight Insider Cullen Desforges January 18th, 2021 Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne successfully ignites its engine moments after being dropped by a carrier aircraft to begin its flight toward orbit. Credit: Virgin Orbit After several hours filled with hopeful anticipation, California-based company Virgin Orbit successfully air-launched its LauncherOne rocket Jan. 17 over the Mojave Desert. Virgin Orbit confirmed in a series of tweets that the launch vehicle successfully separated from the company’s 747 carrier aircraft “Cosmic Girl” at 11:39 a.m. PST (7:39 p.m. UTC) and had begun the climb to space. There was confirmation of a successful orbit, however the company initially appeared to remain silent on whether the second stage burn of rocket had been achieved in order to release its payloads into nominal orbit.