Virgin Orbit ceases all operations

On 30 March 2023, Virgin Orbit has ceased all operations and laid off the majority of its staff. The company came into financial difficulties after it failed to bring nine sattelites into orbit on 9 January 2023. Discussions with potential investors to save the company didn't lead to a breakthrough, resulting in the demise of the company.

Virgin Orbit was founded on 2 March 2017 with the aim to offer commercial sattelite launches. As a vehicle for the delivery, the company developed a special rocket, the LauncherOne that was launched from a retrofitted Boeing B747-400. The development of the LauncherOne wasn't a smooth process as during its first launch on 25 May 2020, it wasn't able to reach orbit. However, later flights were succesful, leading to the first commercial mission in January of this year.

The company's retrofitted Jumbojet, N744VG (32745), joined the company from Virgin Orbit's predecessor Virgin Galactic in July 2017. It's currently parked at Long Beach (CA), where it was flown to 14 January 2023.

Photo by Virgin Orbit.