Plane prepares to take off for first UK satellite launch

By SYLVIA HUI
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Engineers are making final preparations for the first satellite launch from the U.K. A repurposed passenger plane is expected to release a Virgin Orbit rocket carrying several small satellites into space on Monday night. The mission will mark the first orbital space launch from U.K. soil and the first international launch for Virgin Orbit which was founded by British billionaire Richard Branson. The latest mission will see a repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft carrying a rocket take off from Cornwall in southwestern England from around 10:15 p.m. Monday (2215 GMT; 5:15 p.m. EST). The plane will release the rocket at 35,000 feet (around 10,000 meters) over the Atlantic Ocean. The rocket will then take several small satellites for mixed civil and defense use into orbit.