What should have been a historic moment for the UK ended in failure last night after an undisclosed “anomaly” prevented the country’s satellite mission from reaching orbit. The Virgin Orbit “Start Me Up” mission was the first-ever rocket launched from British soil.
The first stage of the mission proved successful — Virgin Orbit’s Cosmic Girl (a converted Boeing 747 acting as a carrier aircraft) took off from Spaceport Cornwell on January 9th as planned and released the…