Virgin Orbit Fails in First Launch Attempt

Virgin Orbit, a company founded by Sir Richard Branson, failed in its first attempt to launch a satellite into orbit. The booster was dropped from a Boeing 747 carrier jet, but "engineers had to terminate the flight", according to the BBC. 

The booster was released from under the wing of one of the UK entrepreneur's old jumbos which had been specially converted for the task.

The rocket should have ignited its engine seconds later but engineers had to terminate the flight.

Virgin Orbit's goal is to try to capture a share of the emerging market for the launch of small satellites.

It's not clear at this stage what went wrong but the firm had warned beforehand that the chances of success might be in the region of 50:50.