Virgin Orbit began as a plan of Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic in 2012, ahead of getting spun off into a separate firm 5 years later.

In the private space race, Virgin Orbit contended its approach of launching its rockets — recognized as “air launch” — was extra versatile than regular launch pads employed by competitors like Rocket Lab, Astra and SpaceX.

The firm employed a modified Boeing 747 jet that it known as “Cosmic Girl” to carry its LauncherOne rocket to about 35,000 feet of altitude ahead of dropping it.

From there, the rocket would fire its engines and fly off into space.

“By launching from an aircraft, Virgin could take off from nearly any airport about the globe and turn these airports into space ports,” mentioned Caleb Henry, director of analysis at Quilty Analytics.

Henry noted that the Virgin Orbit’s final launch was from the United Kingdom, and that the firm was in discussions to launch in Japan and Brazil.

“They have been supplying to distinct nations the capability to, in a sense, have a sovereign launch capability, mainly because the rocket would take off from their house soil,” Henry mentioned.

But Virgin Orbit was dogged by delays. The firm initially hoped to launch its debut mission in 2018, but did not get off the ground till Might of 2020. The demonstration mission failed shortly right after the rocket was released. In total, the firm launched six missions, 4 of which have been prosperous and two of which failed, which includes the final 1 in January.

Virgin Orbit’s most significant deal was a 39-launch contract signed with satellite maker OneWeb in 2015. OneWeb in the end pulled out of the deal without having conducting a single launch.

“A challenge for the firm, and for any launch firm, is possessing an anchor client, somebody who you can rely on to routinely get a decent quantity of launches,” Henry mentioned. “Virgin Orbit did not have an anchor client.”

In late March, Virgin Orbit mentioned it was laying off the majority of its workforce and ceasing operations “for the foreseeable future” right after failing to safe a funding lifeline. Days later, the firm filed for bankruptcy.

Watch the video to discover out extra about what led to Virgin Orbit’s collapse.