Britain’s first attempt to launch a rocket into space from a base in Cornwall has ended in failure
The initial launch from Cornwall Newquay Airport was a success with the jumbo jet operated by the American Virgin Orbit company carrying a rocket to release it high over the Atlantic Ocean.
The mission was for a repurposed 747 jet release a rocket over the Atlantic to take 9 satellites high above the Earth.
But the satellites that it was carrying failed to successfully release into orbit
The Company tweeted
“”We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information.”
The plane, Cosmic Girl landed back at Spaceport Cornwall following an unsuccessful launch.
Matt Archer, Commercial Space Director at the UK Space Agency, said that the rocket was likely to be burnt up or broken-up over the sea, and the satellites destroyed.
He said: “The second stage had an anomaly. We don’t know what caused that. But in effect the rocket has not reached the required altitude to maintain its orbit or deploy the satellites, and therefore the mission was unsuccessful.
“We’ll probably break up, not all of it will burn up, so they will be tracking the trajectory. The trajectory of the launch itself was over unpopulated areas such as the North Atlantic and then heading further south.
“Over the coming days there’ll be an investigation involving various bodies, including Virgin Orbit to make sure you understand what caused that technical failure.
“I’m disappointed but we’ll dust ourselves off and go again.”
