On Jan. 9, the first rocket to be sent from British soil launched into space. Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl, a modified Boeing 747, departed from Cornwall to shoot its rocket, LauncherOne, over the Atlantic Ocean near Ireland.
The rocket, carrying a total of nine satellites, was released and made it to space, but a technical issue (or “anomaly” according to Virgin) put an end to the mission before LauncherOne was able to reach orbit.
The Virgin Orbit team is currently investigating what went wrong, but claims it will attempt a second launch within the next year. Cosmic Girl and its crew, however, made it safely back to Cornwall.
Source : UK’s first ever satellite failed to make it to orbit
