Virgin Galactic has announced that it is to design and manufacture its Launcher One space vehicle (shown suspended centrally from the carrier aircraft) at a site across the street from Long Beach Airport.

A 150,000 sq ft facility will be built at Douglas Park, which is near the company’s Pasadena headquarters in California and once housed a Boeing plant.

Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said: “The technical progress our team has made designing and testing Launcher One has enabled a move into a dedicated facility to produce the rocket at quantity.

"With New Mexico’s magnificent Spaceport America for our commercial spaceflight operations, our Mojave facilities for White Knight Two carrier aircraft production plus Space Ship Two production, and now our new facility in Long Beach for Launcher One, we are building capability to serve our expanding customer community.”

The Launcher One is a two-stage vehicle that will be capable of putting satellites weighing up to 500lb into orbit. The company aims to be able to put satellites into orbit for less than $10 million.

According to industry sources, it already has its first order.

Tech company OneWeb is attempting to build a satellite-based Internet network and has plans to put 648 satellites into orbit. Virgin Galactic said that up to 100 jobs will be created initially, with more later as the facility grows, and full-scale production of the craft should start in 2016.