NOT ACCOMPLISHED

Virgin Orbit Rocket Fails on Key Launch Test

It’s been billed as a rival to Space X, which has launched dozens of rockets.

Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit has been billed as a rival to Elon Musk’s Space X, which has launched about 100 rockets with satellites. But on Monday, a key test of Virgin rocket system failed for undisclosed reasons. Bloomberg reports that a Boeing 747 released Branson’s LauncherOne rocket over the Pacific, but the mission was declared over within minutes. “We’ve confirmed a clean release from the aircraft. However, the mission terminated shortly into the flight,” the company announced in a tweet. “Cosmic Girl [the Boeing] and our flight crew are safe and returning to base.” It added, “The team's already hard at work digging into the data, and we're eager to hop into our next big test ASAP. Thankfully, instead of waiting until after our 1st flight to tackle our 2nd rocket, we've already completed a ton of work to get us back in the air and keep moving forward.”