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A former Virgin passenger plane is scheduled to take off from Newquay Airport tonight, before heading out to the Atlantic and dropping a rocket that will fly nine satellites into space.
History was made in the UK tonight as the first-ever orbital space launch took off from Cornwall. A plane had been modified to release a Virgin Orbit rocket carrying nine small satellites into space.
Virgin Orbit's space plane took off from Newquay Airport at 22:02 GMT and is currently on its way out to the Atlantic, where it with drop a rocket that will then blast into orbit with a payload of nine satellites.
Virgin Orbit's repurposed 747 jumbo jet took off from Cornwall shortly after 22:00 GMT and about an hour later dropped a 70-ft long rocket from its belly which then blasted into space.
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.