‘Anomaly’ thwarts UK attempt to put satellites into space

Cosmic Girl, a Virgin Boeing 747-400 aircraft sits on the tarmac with Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket attached to the wing [Henry Nicholls/Reuters]

The first attempt to launch a satellite from Western Europe appears to have failed after an “anomaly” was reported to have prevented the rocket from reaching orbit.

Virgin Orbit — owned by a consortium including the United Kingdom Space Agency and British airline tycoon Richard Branson — was attempting to send nine small satellites into space from a 70-foot (21-metre) rocket attached beneath the wing of a modified Boeing 747 aircraft.