First-Ever Space Launch From Britain Ends in Failure
On Monday evening, Virgin Orbit made the first ever launch of a spacecraft into orbit from UK soil. A Boeing 747 called Cosmic Girl took off and headed across the Atlantic, writes The Guardian. The airliner successfully launched its rocket, called LauncherOne, with a payload of nine satellites off the south coast of Ireland.
But shortly thereafter, the Virgin Orbit Corporation, which leads the mission, announced that an “anomaly” had occurred and the rocket was unable to gain the required altitude.
The rocket and satellites were lost, but the British Space Agency insists they pose no danger and were expected to burn out or crash over the North Atlantic. The Boeing 747 returned safely to Cornwall.
“We don’t know what caused the anomaly, but we got it going,” says Matt Archer, the director of commercial spaceflight at the UK Space Agency. “Many positive results have been achieved. Space is not easy. We knew it was fraught with failure. Launches don’t always work. We have created the conditions for the launch here. We have shown that we can do it and we will try to do it again”
