Virgin Orbit’s First Rocket Launch Attempt!

Virgin Orbit’s “Cosmic Girl“ took off from Mojave today with it’s huge rocket, Launcher One strapped to the left wing. After being joined by the Citation chase plane, the 747 headed out over the Pacific to attempt the first test launch of the new rocket. According to Virgin Orbit, the “mission terminated shortly into the flight.“ Presumably the flight termination system was activated when an anomaly was discovered after ignition of the first stage. Still, this is a huge step forward for the launch indus