Virgin Orbit's attempt to launch their first commercial satellite into orbit today using the Cosmic Girl aircraft met with failure. In a tweet sent through its official social media account, Virgin Orbit said an anomaly occurred on the Launcher One rocket launched by Cosmic Girl causing it to fail to reach orbit.
The reason for the anomaly that led to the failure of the mission is still unknown until the data from Launcher One is analyzed by the mission control center. The cargo carried by Launch One is a number of commercial and government-owned satellites.
The failure of this mission was disappointing for Virgin Orbit as it was supposed to be the first mission to launch a rocket into orbit from the United Kingdom and Western Europe.
The Virgin Orbit rocket launch system has been developed since 2017 using a Boeing 747 aircraft carrier. The rocket carrying cargo is placed under the wing. The LauncherOne rocket will be transported to an altitude of over 10,000 meters before being launched into space with satellite-like cargo.
According to Virgin Orbit, their system is cheaper than a rocket system that flies from the surface of the earth. Because it is flown from the air, bad weather will not delay the launch of satellites for customers. In addition to rocket launch services, Virgin also offers space travel through Virgin Galactic.