John Garvey, chief engineer of launch for Virgin Orbit, discusses the company reaching space with its air-launched rocket and the challenges of testing and launching horizontally underneath an aircraft wing.

This interview was conducted shortly after California-based Virgin Orbit successfully reached space for the first time with its LauncherOne rocket in January 2020.

Garvey, who has a worked in launches since the 1980s, discusses how launch procedures and testing have to be modified for a horizontally-launched rocket and how Covid-19 has impacted the way the team works.