Virgin Orbit was a company within the Virgin Group that provided launch services for small satellites. It was formed in 2017 as a spin-off of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic space tourism venture to develop and market the LauncherOne rocket, a two-stage launch vehicle air-launched from a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft and designed to deliver 300 kg of payload to low Earth orbit. On December 30, 2021, Virgin Orbit became a publicly traded company through a merger with the special-purpose acquisition company NextGen Acquisition Corp. LauncherOne made six flights from 2020 to 2023, with four successes and two failures, and the company later entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Facts
Company Type
Company Type (category) Chronology
Dissolved Year Founded Year Connections
Operates In
Source Wikipedia, Virgin Orbit
Subsidiary Of
Source Wikipedia, Virgin Orbit
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Same As
Also in Space and Astronomy Atlas: the same subject.
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Sources
1. Wikipedia, Virgin Orbit
Lead: type
On December 30, 2021, Virgin Orbit underwent a SPAC merger with NextGen Acquisition Corp, and became a publicly traded company (symbol VORB) at the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Lead: founding
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.
Lead: bankruptcy
the company laid off staff and suspended operations in March 2023, finalizing Chapter 11 bankruptcy auction on May 22, 2023.
Operates In: Space Industry, Lead: industry
Virgin Orbit was a company within the Virgin Group that provided launch services for small satellites.
Subsidiary Of: Virgin Group Ltd., Lead: parent
Virgin Orbit was a company within the Virgin Group that provided launch services for small satellites.
In Group: Aerospace and Defense, Lead: sector
Virgin Orbit was a company within the Virgin Group that provided launch services for small satellites.
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