United Kingdom: Britain’s attempt to become the first European nation to launch satellites into space has ended in failure.

The “horizontal launch” mission had left from the coastal town of Newquay in southwest England, with Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket carried under the wing of a modified Boeing 747 called “Cosmic Girl” and later released over the Atlantic Ocean.

According to the reports, the rocket ignited and appeared to be ascending correctly. But the company later confirmed that the rocket had suffered an anomaly.

“We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information,” the company shared.

The Virgin Orbit system began its operations in 2020. It suffered a failure on its maiden outing, but this was followed up by four successful flights. Virgin Orbit had initially stated on Twitter that LauncherOne had reached earth orbit, and later deleted the tweet.

“Over the coming days, there will be an investigation by the government and various bodies, including Virgin Orbit,” Mr. Matt Archer, Commercial Space Director at the UK Space Agency, commented.

Mr. Archer could not confirm whether the rocket fell back to Earth but remarked that if it did, it would be over unpopulated areas. The satellites were insured, so their manufacturers and operators will be compensated.

Earlier, the UK had sent rockets into space but no satellites. The country is internationally renowned for making satellites of all sizes, but the space industry has always had to depend on foreign spaceports to get their products into orbit.

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