Branson says first UK space launch on course for next month

Britain’s first-ever space launch is on track to take place before the end of November, according to billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson, whose Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc. will undertake the mission.

“We plan to launch our first satellite into space from European soil within six weeks,” Branson said Tuesday at a press conference in Milan. “We are pretty much ready.”

Required infrastructure is now in place at Spaceport Cornwall in southwest England following the arrival of Virgin’s LauncherOne rocket. It has been joined by a converted Boeing Co. 747, named Cosmic Girl, which will then transport the craft under its wing and drop it somewhere over the north Atlantic.

Spaceport Cornwall said it’s waiting on licenses from the UK Civil Aviation Authority for the launch site, for Virgin Orbit as the designated operator, and for the payload itself. A spokeswoman said a date for the mission should be confirmed in the next two weeks once those approvals are in place.

The landmark UK launch -- which bears the mission name “Start Me Up,” after the Rolling Stones song -- will carry seven satellites into lower Earth orbit, marking Long Beach, California-based Virgin Orbit’s first international foray since it began commercial services in the US last year.

Virgin Orbit is contracted to two UK launches a year from 2023 onward, the spokeswoman said, helping to meet demand from the burgeoning UK satellite sector.

Branson was in Italy to publicize a new ultra-high-speed broadband service called Virgin Fibra.