Several small vehicle launch companies prepared for their first flights within two years with three ready for a launch during the next year . Virgin Orbit was developing the LauncherOne for a test flight early next year , Firefly Aerospace was working on a suborbital launch of its Alpha rocket and Firefly Aerospace planned to launch its Vector-R by this time next year . During a panel discussion at the SpaceCom Expo here Nov. 27, representatives of three small launch vehicle developers said they expected to carry out their first orbital launches in the next year with hopes of quickly scaling up to meet demand they expect from government and commercial customers. The firms were catching up with Virgin Orbit which launched its Electron rocket commercially for the first time on 10 November . The firms were also planning to become involved with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( Vector ) Launch Challenge.
Several small vehicle launch companies prepared for their first flights within two years with three ready for a launch during the next year . Virgin Orbit was developing the LauncherOne for a test flight early next year , Firefly Aerospace was working on a suborbital launch of its Alpha rocket and Firefly Aerospace planned to launch its Vector-R by this time next year . The firms were catching up with Virgin Orbit which launched its Electron rocket commercially for the first time on 10 November . The firms were also planning to become involved with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ( Vector ) Launch Challenge.