Virgin Orbit shares plunge after space mission fails
By Abigail Townsend
Date: Tuesday 10 Jan 2023
(Sharecast News) - Shares in Virgin Orbit plunged by more than 20% on Tuesday after the UK's first space launch ended in failure.
The historic mission, which used the US firm's horizontal launch system, saw a customised Boeing 747 jet called Cosmic Girl take off as planned from Spaceport Cornwall late on Monday night.
The plane successfully released the LauncherOne rocket it was carrying over the Atlantic Ocean before returning safely to base.
But shortly afterwards it was confirmed that the rocket had suffered an "anomaly", leaving it unable to reach its target orbit. As a result, the nine small satellites onboard were not released and are now lost.
As at 1230 GMT on Tuesday, Virgin Orbit's Nasdaq-listed stock had lost 22% in pre-market trading.
Dan Hart, chief executive, said: "We are mindful that we failed to provide our customers with the launch service they deserve. The first time nature of this mission added layers of complexity that our team professionally managed through. However, in the end a technical failure appears to have prevented us from delivering the final orbit."
Matt Archer, director of commercial spaceflight at the UK Space Agency, said: "We will work closely with Virgin Orbit as they investigate what caused the anomaly.
"We remain committed to becoming the leading provider of commercial small satellite launch in Europe by 2030, with vertical launches planned from Scotland."
Virgin Orbit, which was founded in 2017 by Virgin entrepreneur Richard Branson, debuted on Nasdaq at the end of 2021.
There are currently seven proposed spaceports in the UK. Cornwall, which is using horizontal launching, is the first to become operational, but all will target smaller satellites destined for low Earth orbit.
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