Just months after a botched space mission, Virgin Orbit, the satellite launch company founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, will permanently halt operations.
The California-based company, which had previously requested Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the US in early April, has auctioned off its key assets and made a profit of just over $36 million. The company was valued at $3.5 billion on Wall Street in late 2021, which is about 1% of its current valuation.
Virgin Orbit expressed gratitude to its staff and stakeholders in a statement stating it was selling its assets to four successful bidders and subsequently closing, adding that the company would be remembered for its “groundbreaking technologies.”
The business stated on May 23 that it had “always been at the forefront of innovation and has significantly contributed to the field of commercial rocket launch.”
The space tourism company Virgin Galactic, which put Branson into suborbital flight in 2021 nine days before his billionaire adversary, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, launched the satellite launch business.
Its objective was to offer quick and flexible space launch services for the expanding market for tiny satellites.
The failure of the first attempt to send a rocket into orbit from British soil earlier this year dealt a fatal blow to the corporation. Huge crowds and a lot of curiosity were generated when a rocket was launched from Cornwall in January. According to the business, the rocket was unable to achieve the necessary altitude and was later lost.
