A Virgin Orbit satellite-launching rocket reached space Monday night, but couldn’t achieve the satellite’s final orbit after experiencing an anomaly in its second stage.
The LauncherOne rocket system was released from a custom Boeing 747, “Cosmic Girl”, in the first satellite flight out of the newly built Spaceport Cornwall in Britain. After its release, the rocket ignited the engines, achieved hypersonic speed, breached the atmosphere and reached space.
The first stage of the rocket separated, starting the second stage of the launch. However, while traveling at over 11,000 mph, the system experienced an anomaly, aborting the flight prematurely. The incident occurred around two hours into the rocket’s flight, according to the Associated Press.
Virgin Orbit had four previous successful launches out of California.
Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart noted the rocket failed to deliver the payload, nine small satellites for civil and defense purposes, into final orbit.
“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. … In the end a technical failure appears to have prevented us from delivering the final orbit,” Mr. Hart said in a Virgin Orbit release.
U.K. government officials, meanwhile, kept the focus on the economic potential of commercial space flights.
“Last night, Virgin Orbit attempted the first orbital launch from Spaceport Cornwall. We have shown the U.K. is capable of launching into orbit, but the launch was not successful in reaching the required orbit. … We remain committed to becoming the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030, with vertical launches planned from Scotland,” U.K. Space Agency Director of Commercial Spaceflight Matt Archer said.
Spaceport Cornwall operators were understandably disappointed in the outcome of the Virgin Orbit launch.
“We put so much into this, everybody has, so it is absolutely gutting. But it’s space and the cliche is it’s hard. We know it’s hard,” Melissa Thorpe, the head of Spaceport Cornwall, told the BBC.
Despite the failure of the inaugural British satellite launch, authorities are determined to try again.
“We get up, we go back, we try again, that’s what defines us,” U.K. Space Agency Deputy CEO Ian Annett told the BBC.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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