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

1 year ago 58

Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket and a group of nine satellites it was taking to low-Earth orbit burned up in the atmosphere as the launch failed

Space 10 January 2023

By Alex Wilkins

Virgin Orbit

The LauncherOne rocket at Spaceport Cornwall

Spaceport Cornwall/Virgin Orbit

The first orbital satellite launch from the UK took off from Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay, England but failed to deploy its satellites to orbit. Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket, which took off attached to a Boeing-747 plane at 10.01pm GMT, began its ascent to orbit after about an hour into the flight, but around 25 minutes later the launcher “suffered an anomaly” and had to abort its mission. The rocket and its satellites burned up in Earth’s atmosphere on reentry.

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