Matthew Nelson
Virgin Orbit has started to assess the potential schedule for the initial orbital flight test of the LauncherOne rocket amid the coronavirus outbreak, SpaceNews reported Thursday.
Kendall Russell, a spokesman at Virgin Orbit, said the company is monitoring the situation daily and has taken efforts to protect the employees and their families.
“At present, we’ve been able to maintain a safe and healthy work environment for the crews who need to be physically on-site in order to advance our launch campaign,†added Russell.
LauncherOne will be deployed to orbit aboard a customized Boeing 747-400 aircraft, nicknamed ‘Cosmic Girl,’ from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California. The company has partnered with ImageSat International to help the latter field remote sensing tools for intelligence and security clients.
Virgin Orbit conducted a taxi test for the carrier aircraft and is slated to perform a captive carry test flight for the rocket.
