Virgin Orbit’s first flight was cut short due to unknown error

Virgin Orbit’s first rocket launch failed. The company tried to launch a rocket from an airplane on Monday evening, but the rocket did not enter orbit due to ‘an irregularity’. The plane was able to land safely.

Virgin Orbit attempted an orbital launch for the first time Monday night. The two-stage LauncherOne rocket was launched from under the wing of a modified Boeing 747. Shortly after the ignition of the first stage, an ‘irregularity’ arose, Virgin says.

It is unknown what exactly failed during the launch. “After the missile detached from the aircraft, the engine ignited as planned,” the company said in a statement. “An anomaly arose early in the first stage of the flight and the mission was successfully aborted.”

The mission did not completely fail, because the plane Cosmic Girl with the two pilots on board managed to land safely. The mission took place from the Mojave Air and Space Port space base in California in the US. The test flight would be the first time the LauncherOne rocket was ignited in mid-air and had to reach space.

Virgin itself calls the flight partly a success. “We’ve achieved a lot of goals that we set for ourselves, but not as many as we would have liked,” said CEO Dan Hart. “However, we have taken an important step forward and are studying the flight data for next time.”

Virgin Orbit is now a separate company from the other commercial Virgin Galactic. Virgin Orbit wants to eventually be able to bring small satellites into low Earth orbit with the LauncherOne and Cosmic Girl.