{"id":19475,"date":"2022-10-20T04:43:21","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T08:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/v99news.com\/virgin-boeing-747-to-launch-rocket-into-space\/"},"modified":"2022-10-20T11:42:12","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T15:42:12","slug":"virgin-boeing-747-to-launch-rocket-into-space","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/v99news.com\/virgin-boeing-747-to-launch-rocket-into-space\/","title":{"rendered":"Virgin Boeing 747 to launch rocket into space"},"content":{"rendered":"
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(CNN) \u2014 <\/cite>At the far southwestern tip of England, dangling into the Atlantic, the remote region of Cornwall rarely feels like the center of the world. <\/span><\/p>\n But recently locals have been feeling tantalizingly close as they’ve watched a very special plane fly low overhead, taking off from the runway at little Newquay Airport — the 29th biggest airport in the UK — and circling the skies above the coast before touching back down. <\/span><\/p>\n This isn’t just any plane. Nor is it a normal Boeing 747, as it appears from the ground. In fact, it’s the “Queen of the Skies” repurposed for the space race, making trial flights before it takes part in the United Kingdom’s first orbital space launch next month. And it’ll be taking off from Spaceport Cornwall, which shares the airport’s 1.7-mile regular runway.<\/span><\/p>\n Marc Andrew, from nearby Newquay, traveled to the spaceport after work to see the aircraft land this week.<\/span><\/p>\n “It was amazing to watch, and will be a nice bit of history to tell my little boy when he’s older,” he told CNN. He is now preparing to return for the November launch.<\/span><\/p>\n Cosmic Girl, as the plane has been named, is the vessel for Virgin Orbit’s bid to launch seven satellites into space.<\/span><\/p>\n A former passenger jumbo jet in service with Virgin Atlantic until 2015, it has been modified to carry LauncherOne, a California-made rocket which will go into the Earth’s orbit.<\/span><\/p>\n Cosmic Girl, a former Virgin Atlantic 747, will launch from Newquay, U.K.<\/p>\n Virgin Orbit<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Next month, Cosmic Girl will take off from Newquay’s clifftop runway with LauncherOne under its wing — and once the 747 hits 34,000 feet, it’ll release the rocket.<\/span><\/p>\n Inside will be seven payloads, or satellites, which will start circling the planet in low Earth orbit.<\/span><\/p>\n