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Space Agencies and Companies

Virgin Orbit

Launch and Space Transportation Companies

Virgin Orbit was a company within the Virgin Group that provided small-satellite launch services, formed in 2017 as a spin-off of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic to develop and market the LauncherOne rocket. LauncherOne was a two-stage vehicle, air-launched from a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, designed to deliver up to 300 kilograms to low Earth orbit. Virgin Orbit became a publicly traded company on the Nasdaq exchange in December 2021 through a merger with NextGen Acquisition Corp, valued at 3.7 billion dollars at listing. LauncherOne flew six times between 2020 and 2023, with four successes and two failures; after its second failure in January 2023 and an inability to secure further financing, the company laid off its staff, suspended operations in March 2023 and finalized a Chapter 11 bankruptcy sale of its remaining assets in May 2023.

Facts
Agency Type
Private aerospace company (Chapter 11 bankruptcy and dissolution in 2023) 1
Virgin Orbit filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and ceased operations in May 2023 per the infobox defunct/fate fields; recorded here as the entity existed before dissolution.
Founded Year
2017 1
Headquarters
Long Beach, California, United States 1
Head
Dan Hart (President and CEO) 1
Connections

Operates

LauncherOne, Launch Vehicles

LauncherOne was Virgin Orbit's air-launched small-satellite rocket, dropped from the carrier aircraft Cosmic Girl.

Source Encyclopedia Astronautica
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Virgin Orbit
Wikipedia
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Orbit, lead paragraph, sentence 1
    Virgin Orbit was a company within the Virgin Group that provided launch services for small satellites.
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Orbit, lead paragraph, sentence 2
    The company was formed in 2017 as a spin-off of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism venture to develop and market the LauncherOne rocket, which had previously been a project under Virgin Galactic.
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Orbit, infobox fields hq_location_city/hq_location_country
    Long Beach, California
  • en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Orbit, infobox field key_people
    Dan Hart
View the Source
Encyclopedia Astronautica
Operates: LauncherOne, Encyclopedia Astronautica: LauncherOne entry
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