(The Guardian) Virgin chooses Toowoomba airport as rocket launch site
Virgin Orbit rockets will be launched into a space from a regional Queensland airport in a major deal between prominent business family the Wagner Corporation and billionaire Richard Branson.
Media outlets, including the Courier Mail, are reporting Virgin Orbit has chosen Toowoomba’s Wellcamp airport as the third global destination to launch its satellites for “climate monitoring, telecommunications services and asset tracking”.
The rockets will be attached to Boeing 747 jumbo jets and fired over the Pacific Ocean. A permanent spaceport will be developed at Wellcamp in the next three years.
The privately owned airport was previously proposed by the Wagner Corporation as the site for a for-profit quarantine facility during Covid outbreaks.
Virgin Orbit rockets will be launched into a space from a regional Queensland airport in a major deal between prominent business family the Wagner Corporation and billionaire Richard Branson.
Media outlets, including the Courier Mail, are reporting Virgin Orbit has chosen Toowoomba’s Wellcamp airport as the third global destination to launch its satellites for “climate monitoring, telecommunications services and asset tracking”.
The rockets will be attached to Boeing 747 jumbo jets and fired over the Pacific Ocean. A permanent spaceport will be developed at Wellcamp in the next three years.
The privately owned airport was previously proposed by the Wagner Corporation as the site for a for-profit quarantine facility during Covid outbreaks.
