Virgin Orbit’s historic first attempt to launch satellites from British soil reached space late last night but ultimately fell short of reaching its target orbit.
The mission hosted five payloads: one from Oman (in what would have been the nation’s first space mission), one from Poland, and five from the UK. However, the mission was deemed unsuccessful after the rocket failed to reach orbit.
Here is a timeline of what happened:
1) Last night, the historic first attempt to launch satellites from Spaceport Cornwall, in the UK, was underway when the mission was slated for commencing at 4:15 pm ET. This news came despite public reports of cloudy skies hours before the determined launch time (a deterrent for rocket launches).
2) The customized Boeing 747, called ‘Cosmic Girl’, which serves as the LauncherOne system’s carrier aircraft, took off from Spaceport Cornwall and successfully released the rocket at the designated drop zone.
3) The rocket’s engines ignited as planned, allowing it to reach hypersonic speeds and enter space.
4) The flight continued with successful stage separation and ignition of the second stage.
5) However, during the firing of the second stage engine and with the rocket travelling at over 11,000 miles per hour, an anomaly occurred and ended the mission prematurely.
Watch the launch mission:
Virgin Orbit has stated that despite the mission not achieving its final orbit, and by reaching space and achieving numerous significant first-time achievements, it represents an important step forward.
The effort behind the flight brought together new partnerships and integrated collaboration from a wide range of partners, including the UK Space Agency, the Royal Air Force, the Civil Aviation Authority, the US Federal Aviation Administration, the National Reconnaissance Office, and more, and demonstrated that space launch is achievable from UK soil.
Out of five LauncherOne missions carrying payloads for private companies and governmental agencies, this is the first to fall short of delivering its payloads to their precise target orbit.
Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit CEO, said: “While we are very proud of the many things that we successfully achieved as part of this mission, we are mindful that we failed to provide our customers with the launch service they deserve. The first-time nature of this mission added layers of complexity that our team professionally managed through; however, in the end a technical failure appears to have prevented us from delivering the final orbit. We will work tirelessly to understand the nature of the failure, make corrective actions, and return to orbit as soon as we have completed a full investigation and mission assurance process.”
Matt Archer, Director of Commercial Spaceflight at the UK Space Agency, said: “Last night, Virgin Orbit attempted the first orbital launch from Spaceport Cornwall. We have shown the UK is capable of launching into orbit, but the launch was not successful in reaching the required orbit.
“We will work closely with Virgin Orbit as they investigate what caused the anomaly in the coming days and weeks. While this result is disappointing, launching a spacecraft always carries significant risks. Despite this, the project has succeeded in creating a horizontal launch capability at Spaceport Cornwall, and we remain committed to becoming the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030, with vertical launches planned from Scotland.”
Melissa Thorpe, Head of Spaceport Cornwall, added: “We are so incredibly proud of everything we have achieved with our partners and friends across the space industry here in the UK and in the US – we made it to space – a UK first.
“Unfortunately we learned that Virgin Orbit experienced an anomaly which means we didn’t achieve a successful mission. Today we inspired millions, and we will continue to look to inspire millions more. Not just with our ambition but also with our fortitude. Yes, space is hard, but we are only just getting started.”
