Virgin Orbit Launches Internal Probe On Root Cause Of Failed Mission

(RTTNews) - Space launch systems provider Virgin Orbit Holdings. Inc. (VORB), founded by Sir Richard Branson, announced Thursday that preliminary analysis of data from the "Start Me Up" mission has begun to shed light on the outcome of the January 9 flight and next steps to follow.

The Start Me Up mission was the first orbital launch attempt in history conducted from western Europe. The flight was conducted by Virgin Orbit's air-launched LauncherOne system from the newly commissioned Spaceport Cornwall in the UK.

After successfully proceeding through pre-launch operations and taking off as planned from the runway at Spaceport Cornwall, Virgin Orbit's carrier aircraft traveled to the bespoke drop zone selected for this mission and successfully released the rocket.

The rocket then ignited its first stage engine, quickly going hypersonic and successfully completing the stage one burn through to fairing separation, all occurring as per the planned mission timeline.

Later in the mission, at an altitude of approximately 180 km, the upper stage experienced an anomaly. This anomaly prematurely ended the first burn of the upper stage. This event ended the mission, with the rocket components and payload falling back to Earth within the approved safety corridor without ever achieving orbit.

Virgin Orbit's carrier aircraft and its crew returned safely to Spaceport Cornwall.

Extensive telemetry coverage for the flight allowed for the collection of an enormous quantity of data during the mission, allowing Virgin Orbit's engineers and review board members to start their analysis immediately upon detection of the anomaly.

Virgin Orbit has initiated a formal investigation into the source of the second stage failure, to be led by Jim Sponnick (Co-Investigator), a distinguished aerospace veteran, and and Chad Foerster (Principal Investigator).

An extensive fault analysis and investigation and completion of all required corrective actions identified during the investigation will be completed prior to the next flight.

Virgin Orbit is continuing to process its next scheduled rocket through final integration and checkout ahead of its upcoming mission, which is planned to occur from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California.

Virgin Orbit also anticipates returning to Spaceport Cornwall for additional launches.