Virgin Orbit launch – as it happened: UK rocket ‘burns in atmosphere’ as failure casts doubt over future missions

What was due to be a breakthrough mission for the UK, Europe, Richard Branson and his private satellite launch company ended in failure and confusion late on Monday night.

Virgin Orbit had intended to use a plane to carry a rocket up to 35,000 feet, before dropping it off to carry itself and its payload of nine satellites into space. It would have been the first ever rocket launch from UK soil, and the first satellites put into orbit from western Europe.

The company initially suggested that the mission had gone well and the satellites had been put into orbit. But soon after it said it had experienced an “anomaly”, that the payload had not made it after all – and the mission appeared to be a failure.

It could drastically harm the reputation of the fledgling UK space industry, the government that had publicly backed it, and Virgin Orbit, which had looked to be a pioneer and key participant in hopes for a boom for such companies in Britain.

But first engineers will have to work out what actually went wrong during the mission.

In a series of tweets, Virgin Orbit said: “We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information.

“As we find out more, we’re removing our previous tweet about reaching orbit. We’ll share more info when we can.”

The plane, and its two pilots, made their way safely back to Spaceport Cornwall, in Newquay, soon after the mission’s failure was announced. They landed the converted former passenger plane on the same strip from which it had taken off just a couple of hours earlier.

But the mood of tense hope that marked the spectators as they set off had turned to confusion and frustration. Many had waited to watch the rocket as it left, and tens of thousands tuned in from home.

Even before the mission was declared a failure, those watching Virgin Orbit’s livestream had criticised the production, for failing to give a proper accounting of the mission’s progress alongside other stylistic and technical problems.

But at the end of that stream, a mission controller appeared on screen to announce that the mission had failed. He gave no further indication of what had happened – even when he returned again to announce the feed was over and to urge people to pay attention to Virgin Orbit’s other channels for any updates on what had happened.

At the time of writing, no such update was forthcoming. The company only said that it had failed to reach orbit, and that it would share more information as it became available.

On the ground, however, spectators suggested that the rocket had likely suffered issues during its final moments, and so failed to put the payload in the correct orbit. As such, those million-pound satellites were probably on their way to burning up high above the Earth, if they had not already.

Virgin Orbit’s stock took a plunge on Monday evening after its rocket failed to reach orbit due to “an anomaly.”

The company’s shares fell nearly 30 per cent during extended trading on Monday, dropping as much as below $1.40 per share.

Virgin Orbit’s mid-air launch system attempted to use a modified Boeing 747 to send nine satellites to space in a rocket that was dropped from under the plane’s wing mid-flight.

But about half an hour after the rocket was launched, the company announced on Twitter that the launch had “an anomaly” and that the satellites would not reach orbit.

Matt Archer, commercial space director at the UK Space Agency, said the rocket’s second stage suffered an “anomaly”.

He said the rocket’s first stage burn would have got it into basic orbit, but added that a second stage was needed to put it 500km above the Earth.

“That didn’t happen tonight and what you have seen is that it has reached space but hasn’t reached the required orbit,” Mr Archer explained, adding that an investigation in the following days will help understand what caused that technical failure.

“In effect, the rocket has not reached the required altitude to maintain its orbit or deploy the satellites, and therefore the mission was unsuccessful,” he said.

Melissa Thorpe, head of Spaceport Cornwall, told PA that the launch team was “resilient,” and would recover from the failed mission.

“We’re feeling awful, to be honest – I’m not going to lie. It’s gutting and we all heard at different times and when we got together there were tears, and it was very upsetting,” Ms Thorpe told reporters.

“We are family and we’ve been through a lot together. So, when you go through something like this as a family at least you have that support, and we all understand one another,” she said.

Ms Thorpe said the horizontal launch part of the mission had gone to plan, adding that she was confident they can embark on another mission.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve been knocked, this is the biggest definitely, but I feel okay and we’ll get up and we’ll go again,” she said.

Virgin Orbit previously reached orbit on four of its first five attempts.

But the failure to launch its rocket successfully into orbit yesterday may prove “disastrous” for the company, according to Eric Berger of Ars Technica.

He said this may prove to be a “devastating” launch failure for Virgin Orbit.

“This is not a terrible record for a startup at all. But a failure on a high profile mission, with a company in a precarious financial position, may prove disastrous,” Mr Berger tweeted.

Although Virgin Orbit’s Start Me Up mission to launch nine satellites into orbit failed due to “an anomaly” yesterday, Melissa Thorpe, head of Spaceport Cornwall, said the company’s horizonal launch had gone to plan.

In the mid-air launch system, the company used a modified Boeing 747 to carry the rocket up to 35,000 feet, before dropping it off to carry its satellites into space.

But more than half an hour after the rocket’s first stage did its job, the company said “an anomaly” has seemingly prevented the rocket from reaching its planned orbit.

“We’ll see how things look over the next little bit. We’re here and we’ve got our licence so it would be great to do it again soon,” Ms Thorpe told reporters.

“With any kind of failure it’s how you react to it and for us to get right back up again and we’re still passionate about what we do,” she added

Science minister George Freeman thanked the flight, ground crew, mission control team involved in the Virgin Orbit rocket launch.

“After a successful launch, rocket fire, release & entry into space, Virgin Orbit reported a problem with orbit trajectory,” he said.

“Gutting,” Mr Freeman tweeted, sharing a John F Kennedy quote “We do these things not because they are easy but because they are hard.”

Virgin Orbit’s rocket carrier plane, dubbed Cosmic Girl, lifted off from Spaceport Cornwall at 22:02 GMT on schedule.

The modified Boeing 747 plane dropped the company’s 21-meter-long LauncherOne rocket about an hour later when it was off Ireland’s southwest coast.

Virgin Orbit’s live telecast suggested that the rocket’s first stage successfully ignited, and its two stages separated over 3 minutes after the drop.

A few minutes following this, Chris Relf the company’s director of systems engineering and verification said LauncherOne seemingly “suffered an anomaly, which will prevent us from making orbit this mission.”

The mission’s failure has resulted in the loss of nine satellites, including several UK defense cubesats

Virgin Orbit boss Dan Hart said in a statement that the “first-time nature of the mission” added layers of complexity.

“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,” he said.

“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,” Mr Hart added.

Following the rocket’s release from Virgin Orbit’s customized 747 and ignition of its engines, it quickly went hypersonic and successfully reached space and continued through stage separation.

But “at some point” during the rocket’s second stage engine firing, the system experienced an anomaly while travelling at a speed of more than 17,000 kph (11,000 miles per hour), ending the mission, Virgin Orbit said in an official statement.

“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,” Matt Archer, Director of Commercial Spaceflight at the UK Space Agency, said.