Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit
Company type	Public
Traded as	OTC Pink: VORBQ
Industry	Aerospace
Predecessor	Virgin Galactic
Founded	March 2, 2017
Defunct	May 22, 2023
Fate	Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Headquarters	Long Beach, California, United States
Key people	Dan Hart (President and CEO); Brita O'rear (CFO)
Products	LauncherOne
Services	Orbital rocket launch
Total equity	US$47m (2023); US$4b (2021);
Owners	Virgin Group; Mubadala;
Number of employees	100 (2023)
Website	virginorbit.com

Virgin Orbit was a company within the Virgin Group that provided launch services for small satellites. 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. LauncherOne was a two-stage launch vehicle, air-launched from a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, designed to deliver 300 kg of payload to low Earth orbit.^[2]

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.^[3] Upon listing Virgin Orbit was valued at $3.7 billion.^[4]

LauncherOne made six flights from 2020 to 2023, resulting in four successes and two failures. After the second failure in January 2023 and amid an inability to secure additional financing,^[5] the company laid off staff and suspended operations in March 2023, finalizing Chapter 11 bankruptcy auction on May 22, 2023.^[6]^[7] Remaining assets were divested for $36 million, less than 1% of the company's valuation upon IPO.^[8]

^ Fernholz, Tim (June 13, 2017). "Virgin Orbit's newly-minted CEO will use psychology to launch satellites faster than anyone else". Quartz. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
^ Irene Klotz (March 2, 2017). "Virgin Galactic Unveils Spin-Off Virgin Orbit for Small-Satellite Launches". Space.com.
^ "Virgin Orbit lands in Times Square NYC to ring NASDAQ bell". Space.com. January 7, 2022.
^ "Branson's Virgin Orbit to go public through a SPAC at $3.7 billion valuation". CNBC. August 23, 2021.
^ Will, Luke (January 10, 2023). "Virgin Orbit's Launcher One Fails to Reach Orbit". Travel Radar. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
^ Roulette, Joey (April 4, 2023). "Branson's Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy". Reuters. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
^ Race, Michael (April 4, 2023). "Virgin Orbit: Richard Branson's rocket firm files for bankruptcy". BBC News. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
^ Sheetz, Michael (May 23, 2023). "Virgin Orbit sells assets in bankruptcy auction to Rocket Lab, Stratolaunch and Vast's Launcher". CNBC. Retrieved May 23, 2023.

[1] Fernholz, Tim (June 13, 2017). "Virgin Orbit's newly-minted CEO will use psychology to launch satellites faster than anyone else". Quartz. Retrieved June 13, 2017.

[Space-2017-2] Irene Klotz (March 2, 2017). "Virgin Galactic Unveils Spin-Off Virgin Orbit for Small-Satellite Launches". Space.com.

[3] "Virgin Orbit lands in Times Square NYC to ring NASDAQ bell". Space.com. January 7, 2022.

[spac-4] "Branson's Virgin Orbit to go public through a SPAC at $3.7 billion valuation". CNBC. August 23, 2021.

[5] Will, Luke (January 10, 2023). "Virgin Orbit's Launcher One Fails to Reach Orbit". Travel Radar. Retrieved January 10, 2023.

[:3-6] Roulette, Joey (April 4, 2023). "Branson's Virgin Orbit files for bankruptcy". Reuters. Retrieved April 4, 2023.

[7] Race, Michael (April 4, 2023). "Virgin Orbit: Richard Branson's rocket firm files for bankruptcy". BBC News. Retrieved April 4, 2023.

[auto-8] Sheetz, Michael (May 23, 2023). "Virgin Orbit sells assets in bankruptcy auction to Rocket Lab, Stratolaunch and Vast's Launcher". CNBC. Retrieved May 23, 2023.

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