Virgin Orbit’s First Satellite Launch From British Soil Fails

The space launch company says the mission reached certain milestones despite problems that kept its payload from reaching orbit.

Jonathan Welsh

Wednesday, January 11, 2023 at 04:43 PM ET

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Virgin Orbit's modified 747 called Cosmic Girl releases a LauncherOne rocket. [Courtesy: Virgin Orbit]

Key Takeaways:

Virgin Orbit's first attempt to launch satellites from the UK failed to reach orbit due to an anomaly in the rocket's second-stage engine.
Despite the mission's failure to deliver satellites, Virgin Orbit considered it an "important step forward," having successfully completed initial launch phases and established key collaborations.
This was the LauncherOne system's first delivery failure after five successful missions, and the company plans to investigate, make corrections, and remains committed to its European market goals.

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Virgin Orbit said its first attempt to launch satellites from Britain using its LauncherOne system failed to reach orbit as planned. However, the company started by Richard Branson in 2017 said the flight accomplished enough to be considered, “an important step forward.”

The company said that its custom Boeing 747, called Cosmic Girl, took off from Spaceport Cornwall, carried the LauncherOne rocket aloft, and successfully released it. The rocket fired its engines and flew at hypersonic speed into space, separated from its first stage, and began to ignite the second-stage engine.