The first-ever orbital rocket launch from British soil failed on Monday (Jan. 9) in a disappointing setback to the country’s sovereign space ambitions. Virgin Orbit’s Start Me Up mission launched from Spaceport Cornwall, a civilian airport-turned-launch site located in the southwesternmost point of Great Britain.
“Even if things did not go entirely to plan, last night’s launch was still a major step forward towards the ability to access Earth orbit from UK territory. Space is a challenging and unforgiving environment and all phases of space activity have associated risks: even once delivered safely into orbit, satellites are exposed to harmful radiation and potential impacts from space debris.
The space community worldwide is familiar with periodic disappointments but always regroups and perseveres. I am sure the team involved yesterday will dust themselves down, learn from this experience and move ahead towards the next successful launch. We wish them well and support them wholeheartedly.” says Sir Martin Sweeting – SSTL Executive Chairman.
The rocket and its payload of satellites which failed to reach orbit on the UK’s maiden space launch from British soil will not pose any danger to people, UK Space Agency bosses have reiterated. Cosmic Girl, the customised Boeing 747 from Virgin Orbit, may have taken off from Spaceport Cornwall and returned to Cornwall Airport Newquay safely a few hours later, but the payload inside the LauncherOne rocket attached to its wing failed to deploy.
The plane, a former Virgin Atlantic passenger jet flown by RAF test pilot squadron leader Matthew Stannard, took off just after 10pm and safely reached its destination south of Ireland. Following a looping “racetrack” pattern, a manoeuvre executed while the engineer crew on board waited for the final go/no-go call, Virgin Girl finally received its green light and LauncherOne was released.
The nine satellites onboard, from seven defence and civilian UK and international customers, had been due to be released an hour a later. Virgin Orbit initially tweeted: “LauncherOne has … successfully reached Earth orbit! Our mission isn’t over yet, but our congratulations to the people of the UK! This is already the first-ever orbital mission from British soil – an enormous achievement.”