Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit reaches space with key mid-air rocket launch

Competition is fierce between Virgin Orbit, Firefly and U.S.-New Zealand company Rocket Lab, which are designing smaller or non-traditional systems to inject smaller satellites into orbit and meet growing demand.

WASHINGTON: Billionaire Richard Branson’s (pic) Virgin Orbit reached space for the first time on Sunday with a successful test of its air-launched rocket, achieving a key milestone after aborting the rocket’s first test launch last year.

The Long Beach, California-based company’s LauncherOne rocket was dropped mid-air from the underside of a modified Boeing 747 nicknamed Cosmic Girl some 40,000 feet over the Pacific at 11:39 a.m. PT before lighting its NewtonThree engine to boost itself out of Earth’s atmosphere.