Britain failed to launch a satellite

What was supposed to be a historic and “groundbreaking” moment instead ended in real disappointment.

Shortly before midnight UK time, the converted Boeing 747 was launched into space from Cornwall, England, carrying a rocket and nine satellites.

Virgin Orbit, which led the launch, was able to launch the rocket from the plane. But after a while they said they had a “feud”. The rocket was unable to reach the altitude required to reach space and the launch failed. Neither the rocket nor the satellites could be saved.

Big disappointment after failure: “Space is hard”

– We don’t know what caused the anomaly, but we managed to do a launch, says Matt Archer, director of commercial spaceflight at the British Space Agency. Guardian.

He said he was “incredibly disappointed” that the mission had failed, but was delighted that the first European satellite launch took place in the UK.

– Location is difficult. We knew it was at risk of failure. Procrastinations don’t always work. But here we have created the conditions for launching. We have shown that we can, and we will try to do it again.

The British space agency said it did not know where the rocket had gone, but that it likely broke up or burned up in the Atlantic Ocean, so there was no chance of any casualties.

– Its course is mainly over large bodies of water, so it’s perfectly safe, Matt Archer tells The Guardian.

The plane was able to land in Cornwall without incident.

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