BRITAIN’S £10million attempt to make history as the first European country to launch a rocket into space from home turf flopped last night.
The LauncherOne rocket successfully blasted off but suffered “an anomaly” which stopped it from reaching orbit at the last moment.
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Rocket company Virgin Orbit had wrongly tweeted out that it reached Earth’s orbit before suddenly admitting it failed, adding: “We are evaluating the information.”
LauncherOne piggy-backed on Virgin Orbit’s 747 plane, known as Cosmic Girl, called Cosmic Girl from Newquay, Cornwall, before dropping off over the Atlantic.
It was then supposed to blast off into space to deploy nine small satellites intended for UK defence monitoring, while others were for firms such as those in navigational tech.
Cosmic Girl however successfully returned to Cornwall with its flight crew. It is thought Virgin Orbit charges around £10million for a launch, but fees can vary.
Melissa Thorpe, head of Spaceport Cornwall, said the horizonal launch had gone to plan and she was confident they would be able to embark on another mission in the “near future”.
She said: “With any kind of failure it’s how you react to it and for us to get right back up again and we’re still passionate about what we do.
“We’ll see how things look over the next little bit. We’re here and we’ve got our licence so it would be great to do it again soon.”
“This isn’t the first time we’ve been knocked, this is the biggest definitely, but I feel okay and we’ll get up and we’ll go again.
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“It hasn’t gone exactly to plan but we’ve done everything that we said we were going to do at Spaceport.
“It’s just absolutely devastating, and we put our hearts and soul into this.”
Meanwhile, around 2,000 members of the public got tickets to watch the event. One airport worker told Sky News: “It was a little disappointing but a great evening.
“It’s a first for Cornwall, and we actually work at the airport, so it’s been fantastic for us to see our little airport being shown to the world.
“It’s been a big deal for Cornwall and a big deal for the airport, so to put us on the world map has been absolutely brilliant
“Fingers crossed for take two!”
The UK Space Agency and Richard Branson’s rocket company Virgin Orbit’s Start Me Up mission aimed to mark a “new era” for the space industry.
Industry trade body UKspace president Dr Alice Bunn said ahead of the launch: “Tonight’s planned first orbital space launch from the UK is a historic moment.
“We are on the cusp of an industrial revolution in space.
“Small satellites provide essential services for every single one of us; they are the invisible enabler of our modern lives, and the UK already has a global lead in their manufacture… which is why having a launch capability in the UK is so strategically significant.”
Virgin Orbit was handed the official launch licences just weeks ago.
The long-awaited launch had faced a number of setbacks, having been delayed from its mid-December launch over technical issues and weather conditions.
CEO Inmarsat, of one of the biggest satellite company’s in the UK, Rajeev Suri, said the launch would not only help support the economy during a cost of living crisis, but also boost defence.
“It is fantastic to see the UK’s space sector reaping the rewards of its investments in recent years with the first ever launch from a UK spaceport,” he said.
“This inspiring achievement will boost confidence in the UK’s space sector, bolster UK defence and bring fresh enthusiasm to the public consciousness.
“Not enough has been done to inspire the people of the UK, or to show them the benefits we all enjoy from space.
“This launch will help move the needle. Today is a great day to be a part of the UK’s space sector.”
The UK’s space industry generates around £14.8billion per year and already hosts some 42,000 jobs, according to figures from UKspace.
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