VORB

Virgin Orbit Holdings, Inc.

A maker of small-satellite launch services, Virgin Orbit sent rockets like LauncherOne to space — but not from a ground pad. Its rocket hitched a ride under the wing of a retired Virgin Atlantic passenger jet nicknamed "Cosmic Girl," which dropped it at high altitude to fire its engines. The company spun out of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic in 2017, and its air-launch plane carried the "Girl" name that Branson gave all his Virgin aircraft — a fitting moniker for a jumbo jet turned rocket mothership.