Virgin Orbit will join the commercial human spaceflight-focused Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company, which is responsible for the design and manufacture of spacecraft for Virgin Galactic, as the third company to fall under the Virgin Group's Galactic Ventures commercial space portfolio.

Virgin Orbit will be headed by Dan Hart, who spent 34 years at Boeing where he was responsible for all Boeing's satellite programs for the US government and other allied countries. Unlike its two company-mates, which are both headquartered in Mojave, California, Virgin Orbit will call Long Beach, California home.

The new company will take the LauncherOne program from Virgin Galactic, which is working to put satellites into space using a rocket deployed from under the wings of a Boeing 747-400.