Virgin Orbit announced that the historic British space mission, during which the company attempted to launch the first rocket into outer space from British soil, failed due to a “defect” that appeared before the rocket reached orbit.
In a tweet on Twitter, Virgin Orbit, owned by British billionaire Richard Branson, which specializes in placing small satellites in Earth’s orbit, said, “It seems that we have a defect that prevents us from reaching orbit,” reports Al-Rai daily quoting AFP.
This mission, if successful, would have brought the United Kingdom into the “exclusive” club of countries capable of sending missiles into outer space.
The space rocket, which was carried by a Boeing 747 belonging to Virgin Orbit under one of its wings, was loaded with nine satellites to be placed in Earth’s orbit, in a mission that would have been a major opening for Britain in this field.
At approximately 23:15 GMT, at an altitude of 35,000 feet above the surface of the Atlantic Ocean off southern Ireland, the missile separated from the Boeing plane, as was scheduled, and its engines ignited and launched into orbit, but a “glitch” prevented it from reaching its target.
For its part, the plane returned to the airport safely. Had this mission succeeded, Britain would have become the ninth country in the world to be able to put satellites into orbit.
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