2023: more Lockheed L-1011 TriStar rocket launches in future? Virgin's 747 Orbit hit by bankrupty threat...

[Stratofreighter]

https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/uks- ... sing-orbit

The aircraft, an ex-Virgin Atlantic 747-400, was converted into an aerial launch platform between 2007 and 2021.
It conducted its first successful commercial launch in July 2021 and has been regularly conducting missions ever since.

Along with Orbital Sciences’ Lockheed L-1011 Tristar, named Stargazer, and Scaled Composites Stratolaunch, the largest aircraft ever constructed,
the Cosmic Girl belongs to the category of aircraft
designed to launch small rockets after lifting them into the stratosphere,
essentially replacing the first stage of a conventional rocket.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElxQ237U5Co

Lockheed L-1011 Tristar @ Mojave Airport (N140SC, Stargazer)
Lockheed 140 Sierra Charlie returning to Mojave Airport from Edwards AFB after the Oct 2022 show. Always a treat to see Stargazer fly!

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/20/virgin- ... talks.html

PUBLISHED MON, MAR 20 2023

https://simpleflying.com/virgin-orbit-m ... ankruptcy/

Bankruptcy could become a reality for satellite launch provider Virgin Orbit as soon as this week.

The US-based group is reportedly scrambling to find a funding source to avoid insolvency.

Last week, the company paused operations and furloughed most of its employees.

With a potential buyout on the table, one buyer reportedly proposed a sale price of nearly $200 million.

Searching for work elsewhere

According to CNBC, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart and other senior leadership
held daily talks with interested parties that would secure the company
with a funding lifeline through the weekend, according to people familiar with the matter,
who asked to remain anonymous to discuss internal matters.

[Stratofreighter]

https://www.independent.co.uk/space/vir ... 11550.html
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https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/30/virgin- ... yoffs.html

Virgin Orbit fails to secure funding, will cease operations and lay off nearly entire workforce

PUBLISHED THU, MAR 30 2023
5:08 PM EDT

UPDATED THU, MAR 30 20236:28 PM EDT

Virgin Orbit is ceasing operations “for the foreseeable future” after failing to secure a funding lifeline,
CEO Dan Hart told employees during an all-hands meeting Thursday.

The company will lay off all but 100 employees, according to audio of the 5 p.m. ET meeting obtained.

“We have no choice but to implement immediate, dramatic and extremely painful changes,” Hart said,
audibly choking up on the call.
He added this would be “probably the hardest all-hands that we’ve ever done in my life.”

The company will eliminate all but 100 positions, amounting to about 90% of the workforce, Hart said,
noting the layoffs will affect every team and department.
In a securities filing, the company said the layoffs constituted 675 positions, or approximately 85%.

“This company, this team — all of you — mean a hell of a lot to me.
And I have not, and will not, stop supporting you,
whether you’re here on the journey or if you’re elsewhere,” Hart said.


Hart has been giving the company’s employees brief daily updates since Monday,
when Virgin Orbit delayed a scheduled all-hands meeting at the last minute.

Late-stage deal talks had fallen through with a pair of investors over the weekend,
but Hart told staff on Monday that “very dynamic” investment discussions were continuing.

Those investor discussions continued this week,
with Hart earlier saying leadership would share any updates “as quickly and transparently as we can,”
noting that leaking emails “is against company policy,”
according to copies of Hart’s emails from Tuesday and Wednesday obtained.


Virgin Orbit developed a system that uses a modified 747 jet
to send satellites into space by dropping a rocket from under the aircraft’s wing mid-flight.

But the company’s last mission suffered a mid-flight failure,
with an issue during the launch causing the rocket to not reach orbit and crash into the ocean.

The company was among a select few U.S. rocket companies
to successfully reach orbit with a privately developed launch vehicle.

It has launched six missions since 2020, with four successes and two failures.

It has been looking for new funds for several months, with majority owner Sir Richard Branson unwilling to fund the company further.

Virgin Orbit was spun out of Branson’s Virgin Galactic in 2017
and counts the billionaire as its largest stakeholder, with 75% ownership.

Mubadala, the Emirati sovereign wealth fund, holds the second-largest stake at 18%.

The company previously hired bankruptcy firms
to draw up contingency plans in the event it was unable to find a buyer or investor.

Branson has first priority over Virgin Orbit’s assets,
as the company raised $60 million in debt from the investment arm of Virgin Group.

On the same day that Hart told employees that Virgin Orbit was pausing operations,
its board of directors approved a “golden parachute” severance plan for top executives,
in case they are terminated “following a change in control” of the company.

[Stratofreighter]

https://www.flightglobal.com/aerospace/ ... 30.article

Three companies have successfully bid for assets of Virgin Orbit,
with aerospace firm Stratolaunch picking up the modified Boeing 747-400
which was used to carry air-dropped satellite launch vehicles.

Virgin Orbit entered US bankruptcy protection earlier this year,
weeks after the 747’s first attempt to launch satellites from the UK
ended in failure when the rocket suffered a thrust malfunction.

Over 30 expressions of interest were submitted for Virgin Orbit,
but court filings show that three entities have been declared successful having offered to purchase various assets.

Stratolaunch already operates the large and unique twin-fuselage Scaled Composites 351,
originally developed for air-drop and orbital launches.

The court filing shows it submitted a $17 million bid for the General Electric CF6-powered 747 and related items.

It states that the aircraft is due for a C2 heavy maintenance check in early August,
its landing-gear is on a two-year extension
which expires in July,
and a number of minor system faults need repairing.

The filing also points out that the aircraft’s documentation is “no longer continuous”
as of the completion of its flights to and from the UK’s Spaceport Cornwall
during the failed January launch mission – but the jet remains in the same configuration.

“At the closing, [the] seller will deliver a logbook that is up-to-date for all operations as of the delivery date of the aircraft,” it adds.

[Stratofreighter]

...N140SC flew from Mojave to San Bernardino last 25 May 2023....

https://www.radarbox.com/data/registration/N140SC
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https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N140SC