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Cosmic Girl is a Boeing 747-41R aircraft. A former passenger airplane operated by Virgin Atlantic, it was purchased by Virgin Galactic in 2015 to be used as the first stage launch platform (or mothership) for the air launch stage of the smallsat orbital launch vehicle LauncherOne, which has its first launch planned for 2017.
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Airliner
Cosmic Girl was assembled in 2001 at the Boeing Everett Factory. It was configured as an 44/32/310 B747-41R, c/n. 32745. The aircraft's first flight was on 29 September 2001, and it was delivered to Virgin Atlantic on 31 October 2001, where it was registered as G-VWOW.
On 3 November 2005 the aircraft was landing at Runway 27R at Heathrow Airport when a crosswind caused it to roll to the left, and the left-most (No. 1) engine hit the ground.
Launch platform
The jetliner was in-service with the airline until October 2015. The airliner, previously leased from Boeing by Virgin Atlantic, was purchased from Boeing outright by Virgin Group for Virgin Galactic, and registered as N744VG, in November 2015. A 747 was selected due to its carrying capacity. The acquisition of the 747 allowed dedicated carrying aircraft for both SpaceShipTwo and LauncherOne.
The air launch to orbit LauncherOne rocket was originally envisioned to operate from the smaller airplane WhiteKnightTwo (WK2) launch platform, used for the suborbital Tier 1b system of WK2 and SpaceShipTwo (SS2). However, as the size of LauncherOne expanded to better encompass the marketplace and acquire marketshare of small launches, the rocket outgrew WK2, leading to the evaluation of bigger launch aircraft, and the acquisition of Cosmic Girl for LauncherOne operations. The use of a larger airplane allows doubling of LauncherOne payload capacity to 200 kg (440 lb), though with the selection of a 747, ultimately, 400 kg (880 lb) may be supported. 747s have previously been used to air launch other craft, including the Space Shuttle Enterprise. The use of Cosmic Girl marks the first use of a 747 as a space launch platform.
The LauncherOne attachment pylon is situated on the left wing, where on a normal 747, the fifth engine attachment point is located for ferrying engines. This point is located between the fuselage and the left inboard engine. LauncherOne would be dropped from Cosmic Girl at a height of 35,000 ft (11,000 m). The maximum payload limit for LauncherOne operations on Cosmic Girl is 400 kg (880 lb).