Virgin Orbit

The company has also selected several backup dates for the mission running into mid- and late-January.

ANA Holdings has an agreement that sets the stage for the purchase of 20 Virgin One LauncherOne rocket flights that would take off from Japan.

Virgin Orbit will make a second attempt to reach orbit with the air-dropped LauncherOne small satellite rocket on Dec. 19, with backup launch windows available later in the month in the event of a delay.

Space launch provider Virgin Orbit says it has delivered a flight-worthy LauncherOne rocket to its Mojave, California facility and is poised to