Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial spaceline, has leased a new 150,000-square-foot facility in Long Beach that will house design and manufacturing of the company’s small satellite-launch vehicle, LauncherOne, according to the City of Long Beach and Virgin.
LauncherOne is a new two-stage orbital launch vehicle being designed by Virgin Galactic specifically to launch commercial or governmental satellites that weigh 500 pounds or less. Much like SpaceShipTwo, the company’s reusable vehicle for space tourism, LauncherOne is designed to be launched from the WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft, giving customers the ability to avoid crowded and expensive launch ranges while also picking the launch location best suited for their mission, according to the company. Located at the Long Beach Airport, the new facility will allow easy transportation of rockets and of customers’ satellites using WhiteKnightTwo.
“The technical progress our team has made designing and testing LauncherOne has enabled a move into a dedicated facility to produce the rocket at quantity,” said Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides. “With New Mexico’s magnificent Spaceport America for our commercial spaceflight operations, our Mojave facilities for WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo production, and now our new facility in Long Beach for LauncherOne, we are building capability to serve our expanding customer community.”
Virgin Galactic will host a job fair and open house at the new facility on Saturday, March 7. Prospective applicants looking for more information may visit virgingalactic.com for complete job listings and more information on the open house.
U.S. Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-CA 47th District) expressed his support regarding Virgin Galactic’s move to the area. “I want to welcome Virgin Galactic to Long Beach, and I applaud their commitment both to the state and to Southern California,” Lowenthal said. “This proves again that Southern California has the tools, the skills and the talent to push, not only the bounds of technology, but in this case, the bonds of Earth itself.”
Source: City of LB
