Science News Roundup: Virgin Orbit first rocket launch attempt; Elon Musk's SpaceX raises $346 million and more

Following is a summary of current science news briefs.

Virgin Orbit fails first rocket launch attempt from modified plane

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit company aborted its first attempt to launch a rocket into space from the belly of a 747 airplane on Monday, the company said. In a test of the company's plan to launch satellites into space, the 70-foot (21.34 m) rocket called LauncherOne was to blast into orbit at about 6.5 miles altitude from a modified airplane named Cosmic Girl.

Elon Musk's SpaceX raises $346 million ahead of debut astronaut mission

Elon Musk's SpaceX said on Tuesday that it raised $346.2 million in a new round of funding, a day before it launches two American astronauts to the International Space Station. The private rocket company's launch of its first crewed mission on Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will put an end to the U.S. space agency's nine-year hiatus in human spaceflight.

Musk's SpaceX set for debut astronaut mission, renewing NASA's crewed launch program

Entrepreneur Elon Musk's SpaceX is set to launch two American astronauts to the International Space Station on Wednesday from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ending the U.S. space agency's nine-year hiatus in human spaceflight. California-based SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule carrying astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken and its Falcon 9 rocket is due to lift off at 4:33 p.m. EDT (2033 GMT) on Wednesday from the same launch pad used by NASA's last space shuttle mission in 2011.