Matt Archer from the UK Space Agency said there was an ‘anomaly' with the second stage burn
Britain's first-ever orbital space mission has failed to reach orbit due to an "anomaly", just hours after budding crowds celebrated its historic launch.
In a tweet which bowled over the fans gathered at the runway, Virgin Orbit said: "As we find out more, we're removing our previous tweet about reaching orbit. We'll share more info when we can." Mr Archer also described how part of the rocket was likely to burn up on re-entry to earth but was estimated to "land over water".
Mr Archer added the satellite load was insured and Virgin Orbit would recover its losses. He said: “The rocket will probably break up, not all of it will burn up, but certainly that’s what they will be tracking at the moment and making sure that it is coming down safely.The 747 had carried Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket under its left wing while taking off horizontally from the new facility.
“They said it was some kind of anomaly so we'll have to wait and see what the scientists say of course but it's certainly such a shame, everyone was so excited.”
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