Disappointing end to UK space mission as satellites fail to reach orbit
A historic space mission that took off from Cornwall has ended in huge disappointment after a rocket carrying the first satellites launched from British soil failed to reach orbit.
To whoops and cheers from a crowd that had gathered at Spaceport Cornwall to watch the launch, a converted Boeing 747 took off and headed out across the Atlantic.
It successfully released a rocket, called LauncherOne, carrying a payload of nine satellites and Virgin Orbit, which is leading the mission, announced that it had reached Earth orbit.
The company tweeted: “LauncherOne has … successfully reached Earth orbit! Our mission isn’t over yet, but our congratulations to the people of the UK! This is already the first-ever orbital mission from British soil – an enormous achievement.”
Twenty-eight minutes later it tweeted: “We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information."
The Start Me Up mission is the first launch of satellites from European soil and was heralded as the start of a new space era for the UK.
Cosmic Girl, flown by RAF test pilot Sqn Ldr Matthew Stannard, took off just after 10pm and carried out a “fin wiggle” to clear ice from LauncherOne. It reached its destination south of Ireland and followed a looping “racetrack” pattern as the crew waited for the final go/no-go call.
Back in Cornwall spectators did a “conga” dance around a replica of the rocket at the perimeter of the spaceport while up to 75,000 people watched a livestream of the flight.
When the “go” call came at 11.10pm, LauncherOne was released at 10,700 metres (35,000ft), falling for a few seconds before igniting and shooting southwards, gathering speed and altitude as it headed towards the Canary Islands.
Cosmic Girl banked sharply away, a stomach-turning manoeuvre. The spectators in Cornwall watching via a big screen whooped and the plane headed back towards the UK...
https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... m-cornwall