You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

Virgin Orbit Shares Plummet As Historic Launch Fails Due to 'Anomaly' The mission was set to be the first-ever successful satellite launch to depart from the UK.

By Emily Rella

entrepreneur daily
Getty Images

Houston, we seem to have a problem.

Virgin Orbit's attempt to make history as the first satellite mission to launch out of the UK failed on Tuesday due to unforeseen and rather rare circumstances.

The rocket, which launched out of Cornwall Airport in Newquay, England (also known as Spaceport Cornwall) began well and looked to be on track to complete its mission of placing nine satellites into orbit from the LauncherOne rocket, which was attached to Cosmic Girl where the flight crew was located.

However once airborne, the Virgin Orbit rocket suffered an unexpected secondary engine failure that left the rocket unable to reach orbit. The company called it an "anomaly."

The crew that was part of the original capsule, Cosmic Girl, landed safely back on the ground.

Virgin Orbit is a flight company that offers "launch services for small satellites" born out of Virgin Galactic, the Virgin Group's full space exploration company.

RELATED: Everything to Know About Richard Branson's New HBO Max Docuseries 'Branson'

Shares of Virgin Orbit reportedly plummeted in pre-market trading amid the news, dropping as much as 20% this morning.

As of late Tuesday afternoon, shares were still down around 14% in a 24-hour period.

The launch failure is another tough hit for the Virgin Group, which suffered a rocket launch crash that left one pilot dead in 2014 through Virgin Galactic.

The news of Tuesday's flight comes after a Sunday Times interview with Branson in which he revealed that ahead of his first trip into outer space, he was greeted by a barefoot Elon Musk inside his kitchen in the early morning hours.

Virgin Galactic is set to begin launching commercial space flights in the second quarter of 2023.

Emily Rella

Entrepreneur Staff

Senior News Writer

Emily Rella is a Senior News Writer at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was an editor at Verizon Media. Her coverage spans features, business, lifestyle, tech, entertainment, and lifestyle. She is a 2015 graduate of Boston College and a Ridgefield, CT native. Find her on Twitter at @EmilyKRella.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

From Tom Brady to Kevin O'Leary – See Who Lost Big in the Wake of the FTX Crypto Collapse

The crash exposed an $8 billion hole in FTX's accounts, leaving investors and customers scrambling to recoup their funds.

Business News

This Highly-Debated Piece of Cinematic History Just Sold For Over $700,000 at Auction

The wood panel from "Titanic" is often mistaken as a door. Either way, he couldn't have fit. (Sorry.)

Business News

Mark Zuckerberg Says This CEO Is the 'Taylor Swift' of Tech

Meta's CEO posed with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Instagram Wednesday.

Fundraising

Avoid These 9 Pitch Deck Mistakes When Asking Others For Money

Crafting an efficient pitch deck requires serious effort, but at least it's not wandering in the dark since certain rules are shaped by decades of relationships between startups and investors.