Virgin Orbit: First satellite launch from the UK failed due to an ‘anomaly’

Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket and the group of nine satellites it carried into low-Earth orbit burned up in the atmosphere after a failed launch.

To Alex Wilkins

The first orbital satellite launch from the UK took off from Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay, England, but the satellite was never deployed into orbit. Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket, which was attached to a Boeing 747 airplane and took off at 10:01pm GMT, began its ascent into orbit about an hour into flight, but about 25 minutes later the launcher “has experienced an anomaly”. We’d have to stop the launch. Mission. The rocket and its satellite burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere upon re-entry.

Thousands of people…