Abridged text to save you a click:
>**Start Me Up mission will send nine civil and defence satellites into orbit from Newquay spaceport on Monday**
>Thousands of people are expected to descend on Cornwall to witness the first orbital rocket launch from UK soil in what is being heralded as the start of a “new era” for the British space industry.
>As long as there are no last-minute technical hitches – and the Cornish weather does not spoil the party – the historic [Start Me Up mission](https://readymag.com/u1795999330/3995015/) will take off on Monday night [launch window to open circa 22:00 UTC on 09-01-2023] from Spaceport Cornwall, blasting nine satellites into orbit.
>It will be a triumph for the spaceport, which has faced scepticism over the years that such an venture could be launched from an area more associated with surfing than hi-tech projects, and boosts the UK’s position as an up and coming space nation.
>At the centre of the mission is a repurposed Boeing 747 aircraft called Cosmic Girl fitted with Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket carrying the nine satellites. The 747 will take off from Spaceport Cornwall before releasing the rocket at 35,000ft [10,668m] over the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland.
>The plane will return to the spaceport, while the rocket will take the small satellites, with a variety of civil and defence applications, into orbit. They will be the first satellites launched into space from Europe.
**Update:** the plane took off, the rocket was launched mid-air, all seemed to be going according to plan, then an “anomaly” (specifics TBC) prevented the satellites from reaching orbit – mission failure 🙁
Window opens at 10am. They probably won’t see a lot as it happens over the sea.
If indeed it actually happens tomorrow. Threat of rain and high winds
Isn’t Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Europe? It’s definitely west of the Urals.
Less of a satellite launch and more of a plane taking off. The launch won’t be visible from the U.K.
I don’t want to downplay their achievements but didn’t Top Gear launch Europe’s largest rocket years ago, I’m sure they mentioned it in the episode.
Edit: the largest non-commercial rocket launch undertaken in Europe. From the Wikipedia article.
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Abridged text to save you a click:
>**Start Me Up mission will send nine civil and defence satellites into orbit from Newquay spaceport on Monday**
>Thousands of people are expected to descend on Cornwall to witness the first orbital rocket launch from UK soil in what is being heralded as the start of a “new era” for the British space industry.
>As long as there are no last-minute technical hitches – and the Cornish weather does not spoil the party – the historic [Start Me Up mission](https://readymag.com/u1795999330/3995015/) will take off on Monday night [launch window to open circa 22:00 UTC on 09-01-2023] from Spaceport Cornwall, blasting nine satellites into orbit.
>It will be a triumph for the spaceport, which has faced scepticism over the years that such an venture could be launched from an area more associated with surfing than hi-tech projects, and boosts the UK’s position as an up and coming space nation.
>At the centre of the mission is a repurposed Boeing 747 aircraft called Cosmic Girl fitted with Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket carrying the nine satellites. The 747 will take off from Spaceport Cornwall before releasing the rocket at 35,000ft [10,668m] over the Atlantic Ocean to the south of Ireland.
>The plane will return to the spaceport, while the rocket will take the small satellites, with a variety of civil and defence applications, into orbit. They will be the first satellites launched into space from Europe.
———————————————
Virgin Orbit’s YouTube channel has a series of countdown videos leading up to the launch, which you can see here: [Episode 1](https://youtu.be/SpnJvr5v6GA), [Episode 2](https://youtu.be/dQTdIus8aaw), [Episode 3](https://youtu.be/O_NV_cgDiFE).
It’s also perhaps worth pointing out the obvious that, whilst these are the first satellites launched *from* Europe, they aren’t the first satellites launched *by* Europe. Previous launches have used sites outside of Europe e.g. [the Ariane 5 was launched from French Guiana, South America](https://www.rfi.fr/en/france/20211024-france-launches-state-of-art-military-communications-satellite). The European Space Agency has [a list of past launches here](https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Transportation/Previous_launches).
**Update:** the plane took off, the rocket was launched mid-air, all seemed to be going according to plan, then an “anomaly” (specifics TBC) prevented the satellites from reaching orbit – mission failure 🙁
Window opens at 10am. They probably won’t see a lot as it happens over the sea.
If indeed it actually happens tomorrow. Threat of rain and high winds
Isn’t Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Europe? It’s definitely west of the Urals.
Less of a satellite launch and more of a plane taking off. The launch won’t be visible from the U.K.
I don’t want to downplay their achievements but didn’t Top Gear launch Europe’s largest rocket years ago, I’m sure they mentioned it in the episode.
Edit: the largest non-commercial rocket launch undertaken in Europe. From the Wikipedia article.