Launchy McLaunchface

Even before it leaves the ground, unpatriotic and backsliding persons are seeking to label Global Britain's first orbital rocket launch a European enterprise. In fact the Virgin Orbit mission, which bears the magnificently sub-Blairite title Start Me Up, is so British that its first-stage flight vehicle will be American, and thus named Cosmic Girl. Since Virgin Orbit is based in Long Beach, California with a former Boeing executive at its head, the nascent Cornwall space industry certainly looks at least as British as the independent nuclear deterrent. Accordingly the spacecraft itself, being Virgin Orbit's first launcher, has been imaginatively christened Launcher One, with the customary champagne ceremony presumably improved with a flask of watery tea.