UK Conducts First Satellite Orbital Space Launch (dw.com) 24
Britain has conducted its first orbital space launch from UK soil on Monday evening, making it the privately-owned Virgin Orbit's first international launch. Deutsche Welle reports: Dubbed "Start Me Up," as in the Rolling Stones song, the rocket is carrying nine small satellites now making their way into space. The repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft took off from Cornwall in southwestern England at around 10:15 pm local time (2215 GMT) before releasing the rocket around an hour into flight over the Atlantic Ocean, toward the south of Ireland. The nine satellites the rocket will bring into orbit will be used for both civil and defense purposes. The plane, meanwhile, should make its way back to Cornwall.
The commercial satellite launch, described by Virgin Orbit as "history-making," is not only the first in the UK but in the whole of Western Europe, according to the UK Space Agency. Though the UK has produced satellites in the past, they were sent to spaceports abroad to be launched into space. Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the UK Space Agency, said, "This is the start of a new era for the UK in terms of launch capabilities." He added that the UK had ambitions for being ''the hub of European launches." Virgin Orbit has previously launched four similar missions from California.
UPDATE: According to the Guardian, the historic space mission "ended in bitter disappointment" after the rocket carrying the first satellites "failed to reach orbit and was lost."
The commercial satellite launch, described by Virgin Orbit as "history-making," is not only the first in the UK but in the whole of Western Europe, according to the UK Space Agency. Though the UK has produced satellites in the past, they were sent to spaceports abroad to be launched into space. Ian Annett, deputy chief executive at the UK Space Agency, said, "This is the start of a new era for the UK in terms of launch capabilities." He added that the UK had ambitions for being ''the hub of European launches." Virgin Orbit has previously launched four similar missions from California.
UPDATE: According to the Guardian, the historic space mission "ended in bitter disappointment" after the rocket carrying the first satellites "failed to reach orbit and was lost."
Has this actually happened? (Score:2)
After this story has been posted, I see that the rocket hasn't launched yet. Launch livestream is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Yup, failed to reach orbit, payload is lost.
Virgin Orbit continues to live up to its reputation.
Failed (Score:2)
Yup, failed to reach orbit, payload is lost.
Yes, report says it failed to reach orbit. No details yet. "We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit," the company said. "We are evaluating the information." https://www.reuters.com/world/... [reuters.com] https://www.nasaspaceflight.co... [nasaspaceflight.com]
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On the one hand, more people putting things into space is great but on the other hand, maybe it's time to give up on these Virgin guys.
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2 fails out of 6, the first also being the first time they tried. What was Musk's success rate in the first 6? It's early days for this.
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Try comparing these guys with Rocket Lab. Founded in 2006, into orbit by 2009. 26 successful launches.
At least Virgin is wasting some more Middle-Eastern oil money.
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For this programme, it is early days. What was the failure rate of Rocket Labs for their first 6 launches? What was the failure rate in 1957?
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2 fails out of 6, the first also being the first time they tried. What was Musk's success rate in the first 6? It's early days for this.
Space-X failure rate out of the first 6 was three failures, three successes.
(They didn't really start succeeding until they started working with NASA.)
Early days? People have been launching things into orbit since 1957. Try comparing these guys with Rocket Lab. Founded in 2006, into orbit by 2009. 26 successful launches.
They've had their share of failures. https://techcrunch.com/2021/05... [techcrunch.com]
Right now their record is 3 failures in 32 launches, about a 10% failure rate.
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Right. So better than Space x and way better than Virgin.
But not as good as Saturn-V (13 launches, no failures) or Space Shuttle (25 launches before the first failure).
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It's also the second.
The UK had a satellite launch system. American launches were cheaper. The government cancelled it. Then the prices mysteriously went up after it was too late.
UK industry is littered with tech developed locally, cancelled when the expensive bit was done, sold off then bought back layer at great expense. Both major parties are guilty of this farce. The Tories think anything other than finance/their donors is worthless and Labor haven't really moved beyond the idea of industry being armie
Woomera (Score:3)
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The UK launched from Australia before most of you were born.
Which is why this story says "...conducted its first orbital space launch from UK soil."
"Girl Power" ?! (Score:2)
It failed (Score:3)
Dewey Defeats Truman! (Score:1)