Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit was a Long Beach, California-based company spun off from Virgin Galactic in 2017 to develop and operate the LauncherOne air-launch system, a two-stage rocket carried aloft by a modified Boeing 747 called Cosmic Girl and designed to deliver up to 300 kg of payload to low Earth orbit. The company went public via a SPAC merger with NextGen Acquisition Corp in December 2021, valuing it at approximately $3.7 billion. Unable to secure long-term funding after a mission failure, Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and ceased operations in May 2023.