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Spaceport Cornwall: Virgin Orbit's statement in full after UK's space mission failed
https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2023-01-10/virgin-orbits-statement-in-full-after-uks-space-mission-failedAn investigation will be carried out after a mission to launch satellites from the UK, which would have made British space history, failed.
The attempt to launch a rocket into orbit from UK soil for the first time suffered an 'anomaly' during the flight.
Virgin Orbit's modified Boeing 747 took off from Cornwall, last night (9 January) but the rocket failed to reach orbit after a technical issue.
Virgin Orbit issued a statement early this morning (10 January) saying that the historic attempt 'ultimately fell short of reaching its target'.
The statement goes on to read: "After successfully taking off from the runway at Spaceport Cornwall – which just a few weeks ago was transformed from a mere slab of empty cement at a commercial airport to the world’s newest space launch operations centre – and travelling to the designated drop zone, Cosmic Girl, the customised 747 that serves as the LauncherOne system’s carrier aircraft, successfully released the rocket. "The rocket then ignited its engines, quickly going hypersonic and successfully reaching space.
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