- [Announcer] Here goes Cosmic Girl. - [Narrator] This might look
like a normal airplane flight. - [Announcer] And yes, we are wheels up. - [Narrator] But once it's in the sky, it's clear it's actually a rocket launch. Richard Branson's Virgin
Orbit made a big bet on launching satellites
from Airborne 747s. It was expected to be a cheaper and more flexible method than
traditional Rocket launches. - [Announcer] And liftoff of Starlink 2-A. - [Narrator] But that bet hasn't paid off. In March, Virgin Orbit
laid off 85% of its staff and filed for bankruptcy in April. - Our runway was set and
our runway was shorter than perhaps we needed. - [Narrator] So, what went wrong? Virgin Orbit started out as
a branch of Richard Branson's larger space venture,
Virgin Galactic, in 2012. - Richard Branson as has
Elon Musk, as has Jeff Bezos, talks about space as an aspirational goal, as something about which he's passionate and believes is important. - [Narrator] Carissa
Christensen is an analyst who has been working in the
space industry for 30 years. - That aspirational
vision is an unusual part of this business compared
to an awful lot of others. - [Narrator] In 2012,
there was a growing market for small satellites. They're typically cheaper and easier to build than larger ones. But launching them was another story. Most had to hitch a ride on
larger conventional launches which were difficult to come by and sometimes didn't drop the
satellite in the right place. So while Virgin was developing its spacecraft for human launches, it saw another opportunity. - Say hello to Launcher One. - [Narrator] Launcher One
was a small launch vehicle that Virgin positioned as
a small satellite solution. Small launch vehicles were a fairly small industry at the time. Launcher One was one of two new vehicles that went into development in 2012. - The investment thesis being that, those small satellites
would value the opportunity to be launched on a smaller launcher because they could go where they wanted, when they wanted and the total
launch cost would be lower. - [Narrator] As Branson told CNN, - The current cost's about
$40 million, $30, $40 million. We'll be able to do it
for less than $10 million. - [Narrator] Virgin
planned to achieve this using that unique method
of putting its rockets on modified Boeing 747s. In typical launches,
rockets need one of these, a powerful stage one booster to send it straight up into the atmosphere before smaller stage
two engines take over. Using a jet presented a
faster, more flexible, and reusable way to get
Launcher One closer to orbit before detaching to finish the trip. No launchpad required. - The idea that you could launch from anywhere and that
you would have flexibility with regard to when you
launched was very attractive. And because you're not
competing for launch sites that was the thought that Virgin
could provide that service. - [Narrator] Then in 2017,
Orbit spun off of Galactic, with former Boeing executive
Dan Hart at the helm. But there was an issue. It still hadn't had a single launch and competition in the space was growing. In 2020, the company made
its first launch attempt but it wasn't successful. - Some disappointment that we didn't get to finish the flight and take it to orbit but we were all prepared for that. We collected an enormous amount of data - [Narrator] To bring in revenue, the company needed to be
making regular launches. In the meantime, Virgin Orbit
was burning through cash. Analysts estimated the company had spent more than 400 million
developing its launch system and it looked to raise more. Then in January, 2021, success. - [Announcer] Launcher One's in space. - [Narrator] The company deployed 10 small satellites into
orbit for the first time. It made its first
commercial launch in June. - I think Orbit right now are gonna concentrate on satellites
into orbit and you know, and just ramp up, you know,
ramp up their capabilities - [Narrator] And ramp up their finances. Virgin Orbit decided to
go public through a merger with a special purpose
acquisition company or SPAC. - An earlier stage
company trading publicly has a level of scrutiny and
visibility into what it's doing that's very challenging for
a company at that stage. - [Narrator] But the
listing didn't generate the 483 million Virgin
Orbit was looking for. Instead, it ended up
with less than half that. While Virgin continued
its launches in 2022, larger launches were
becoming more accessible. New ride share options
like one with SpaceX, catered to small satellite companies, and advances in technology made it easier to drop satellites in the right spot unlike earlier large launches. - It really is the taxi versus a bus. If you take a taxi,
you'll pay a modest amount compared to hiring a whole bus. But if you just buy one seat on the bus it's cheaper than taking the taxi. - [Narrator] But Orbit still
had one major relationship it could potentially lean
on to bring in more funding, the UK Space Agency. - A government entity, is a
good customer for small launch. And it was important for the UK because the UK has been
expanding its presence in space and was looking for an opportunity to conduct launch from the UK. - [Narrator] So in January, it planned the first ever
launch to take place on UK soil, but it didn't go as planned. - It appears that Launcher
One has suffered an anomaly which will prevent us from
making orbit for this mission. - [Narrator] The failure
caused Orbit stock to fall 14% that day and
it continued to slide. - Investors are just not as risk tolerant. There's not much capital available. There are other places
for that capital to go. And so, particularly for a launch business which needs a lot of capital,
that becomes a problem. - [Narrator] Virgin Orbit's
layoffs and bankruptcy filing followed in the wake
of that failed launch, - The satellite launch firm
tied to British billionaire, Richard Branson, failed to
secure the funding needed to keep operating. - My point is, in this environment, any execution failures are
just gonna be magnified. - [Narrator] CEO, Dan Hart, said in a statement at the time that the company must do what
is best for the business. Virgin Orbit declined to
comment further for this video. But this isn't necessarily
the end for the company. Virgin Orbit is hoping to find an investor to buy them out of bankruptcy. - I'm optimistic that will find a partner who wants to take us forward. - [Narrator] And for now, the company is still
planning more launches. (cheerful music)
