Virgin Orbit says issue with rocket’s second stage led to mission failure

Virgin Orbit says issue with rocket’s second stage led to mission failure

a year ago
Anonymous $_PGtSJbg8h

https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/12/virgin-orbit-says-issue-with-rockets-second-stage-led-to-mission-failure/

Virgin Orbit, the unconventional rocket company founded by billionaire Sir Richard Branson, said its mission failure earlier this week was due to an anomaly with the rocket’s second stage.

Although the LauncherOne rocket managed to reach space and achieve stage separation, the anomaly prematurely terminated the first burn of the upper stage’s engines, at an altitude of around 180 kilometers, Virgin said in a statement. Due to this engine anomaly, both the rocket components and payload fell back to Earth and were destroyed upon atmospheric reentry.