Virgin Orbit failed its first orbital test flight over the Pacific Ocean as it was terminated shortly after the rocket released from carrier aircraft on Monday, May 25, as reported by TechCrunch.
"Cosmic Girl" is an old Boeing 747 aircraft that was modified into a carrier aircraft for the LauncherOne rocket. Shortly after Cosmic Girl released the LauncherOne rocket, the test was terminated.
Virgin Orbit had previously flown Cosmic Girl and LauncherOne for various tests and demonstrations, but this was supposedly the first complete system test.
Virgin Orbit launch: test flight ended soon after Cosmic Girl released the rocket
Cosmic Girl took off before 12 p.m. PT (3 p.m. ET) from Mojave Air and Spaceport in California with Chief Test Pilot Kelly Latimer, along with her co-pilot Todd Ericson in the cockpit. The aircraft flew to its target release point where LauncherOne managed a "clean release" from Cosmic Girl as planned at around 12:50 p.m. PT (3:50 p.m. ET). However, after a few minutes, Virgin noted that the mission was subsequently "terminated."
In a tweet, Virgin Orbit confirmed the news, adding that Cosmic Girl and all flight crew "are safe and returning to base."
We've confirmed a clean release from the aircraft. However, the mission terminated shortly into the flight. Cosmic Girl and our flight crew are safe and returning to base. — Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) May 25, 2020
The aircraft and staff landed safely at Mojave Air and Space Port. Virgin Orbit's CEO Dan Hart and Vice President Will Pomerantz said that many first test missions for new launch systems did not go as planned, which is why tests are done.
"After being released from the carrier aircraft, the LauncherOne rocket successfully lighted its booster engine on cue - the first time the company had attempted an in-air ignition," said Virgin Orbit's spokesperson adding that an anomaly occurred early in first stage flight, so the mission was then terminated safely.
The company is still gathering information on what went wrong on this mission. Once the issues are fixed, then they can set another attempt which could be soon as Virgin has been very active with its launch vehicle pipeline. The company already has another rocket that's ready to fly at its Long Beach factory in California.
The Virgin Orbit's goal
According to The BBC, Virgin Orbit hopes to capture a share of the emerging market for the launch of small satellites. It is still not clear what caused the launch failure.
Historically, rocket's maiden flights were often confronted with technical problems. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk replied to Virgin Orbit's tweet saying that Orbit launch is difficult as his company took four attempts to successfully launch Falcon 1.
We appreciate that, Elon. We're excited about the data we were able to get today. https://t.co/7fNEIVUdWB — Virgin Orbit (@Virgin_Orbit) May 25, 2020
"As we said before the flight, our goals today were to work through the process of conducting a launch, learn as much as we could, and achieve ignition," Virgin Orbit tweeted.
While the company hoped to do more, the tweet said Virgin Orbit has accomplished key objectives even if the mission failed. Meanwhile, Virgin Orbit has also been focusing on a tourist plane to take fare-paying passengers on joy rides in space.
