The ground stations we've enlisted to track Cosmic Girl and LauncherOne for this flight are spread across the globe: Mexico, Antarctica, and Mojave. We also have a telemetry dish on the roof of our Long Beach HQ.
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We've just completed our first cold pass through the racetrack. The rocket has autonomously detected it's in the launch zone. Currently all systems are go for flight.
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Commencing final checks for the Terminal Count Autosequence. Once triggered, LauncherOne's computers will take full control of the system in the minutes leading up to final countdown and release.
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We've officially initiated the Terminal Count Autosequence, which means we're approximately less than 15 minutes away from releasing LauncherOne.
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This mission is the most technically complex thing we've tried to achieve yet. The first few seconds after release are where it really all comes together, as we'll verify a series of critical flight systems in rapid succcession in a way that we haven't been able to on the ground.
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We've confirmed a clean release from the aircraft. However, the mission terminated shortly into the flight. Cosmic Girl and our flight crew are safe and returning to base.
Replying to
Cosmic Girl has landed back in Mojave and our crew are all safe and sound.
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Launch is super hard, the team should be really proud of today’s attempt. Glad the crew is home safe.
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Replying to
Thanks very much, Peter! We learned a lot today.
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Sorry to hear that. Orbit is hard. Took us four attempts with Falcon 1.
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Keep trying, you will have success next time. Best of luck.
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Glad to hear the Virgin Orbit team made it back safely. You'll get it next time! 💪
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lol RIP.
Air launch is stupid and no one can convince me otherwise.
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I’m sure experts are very concerned about convincing you.
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