Cornwall Council’s leader has welcomed the arrival of a converted Boeing 747 which will soon take off from Newquay Cornwall Airport in the first space launch from the UK.

Virgin Orbit's modified Boeing 747 launch vehicle arrived at Spaceport Cornwall, Cornwall Airport Newquay, this week.

‘Cosmic Girl’ will carry seven payloads into Lower Earth Orbit from Cornwall via the LauncherOne rocket on the ‘Start Me Up’ mission, Virgin Orbit’s first international launch.

These satellites will serve a wide range of purposes, including reducing the environmental impact of production, preventing illegal trafficking, smuggling, and terrorism.

Squadron leader Matthew Stannard, chief pilot, Virgin Orbit: ‘It feels amazing to bring Cosmic Girl home to the UK. We are weeks away now from the first UK launch at Spaceport Cornwall so it’s all very real, I’m really excited to be here with the Virgin Orbit team.’

Melissa Thorpe, head of Spaceport Cornwall, said: ‘This is the moment we have been waiting eight years for and my team could not be more excited to welcome Cosmic Girl to the UK.

‘A converted 747 using a converted airport to get to space is a perfect example of what we are working to achieve at Spaceport Cornwall. By making use of existing assets we want to set the bar for responsible launch – Starting Up launch in the UK with “Space For Good” at its core.’

Cornwall Council leader Linda Taylor said: ‘This is an exciting and significant moment as we welcome Cosmic Girl to the first UK Spaceport right here in Cornwall. Cornwall Council is proud to be a part of this project which puts Cornwall once again on the global stage.

‘Spaceport Cornwall is already inspiring our young people to become the next generation of scientists and innovators – we look forward to the ground breaking research and exploration that will be undertaken in the years to come, which will help us to better understand and address the needs of our planet and in particular climate change.’