Virgin Orbit Rocket Experiences 'Anomaly' During Launch Demo Off California Coast
LONG BEACH (CBSLA) -- Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket did not reach orbit in its first launch test on Monday off the California coast.
The mission was "safely terminated" shortly after the rocket was released from a Boeing 747 aircraft in what was meant to be its first mid-air ignition.
"As we said before the flight, our goals today were to work through the process of conducting a launch, learn as much as we could, and achieve ignition. We hoped we could have done more, but we accomplished those key objectives today," the company said.
Virgin Orbit said there was an "anomaly" early in the first stage flight that caused the mission to end.
The carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl and its crew landed safely at Mojave Air and Space Port.
Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said he's proud of the team behind the launch demo and that they're preparing to try again.
"Our team performed their prelaunch and flight operations with incredible skill today," Hart said. "Test flights are instrumented to yield data and we now have a treasure trove of that. We accomplished many of the goals we set for ourselves, though not as many as we would have liked. Nevertheless, we took a big step forward today. Our engineers are already poring through the data. Our next rocket is waiting. We will learn, adjust, and begin preparing for our next test, which is coming up soon."
Preparations already underway at the company's Long Beach manufacturing facility.
