Virgin Orbit shares are down 23% in early trading on Wall Street after losing 8.5% last night as well, after the company confirmed that its first launch outside the UK failed and did not reach orbit.
The company used a modified 747 jet to send satellites into space, by dropping a rocket under the plane’s wing mid-flight – a method known as air launch. Virgin Orbit’s webcast showed its LauncherOne rocket released and ignited its own engine, while the company said in a tweet that the rocket had “successfully reached Earth orbit”. But about half an hour later, the company announced that there was an “abnormality” in the launch and that the nine satellites on board would not reach orbit.
Virgin Orbit is examining the launch data to identify the source of the failure, and admitted it deleted the tweet about reaching orbit. The 747 and its crew returned safely and landed at Cornwall Spaceport in southwest England. Last night’s mission was Virgin Orbit’s sixth to date, and the launch failure was its second.
The company has only conducted two launches in 2022, less than the forecast of four to six missions given by Virgin Orbit early last year. At the end of the third quarter, Virgin Orbit had $71.2 million in cash, and raised an additional $25 million from Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, its largest shareholder, in the middle of the fourth quarter.
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