Branson’s rocket flop

RICHARD Branson’s Virgin Orbit failed on Monday in its first test launch of a new rocket, carried aloft by a Boeing 747 and released over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California.

The inaugural launch had appeared to be going well until moments after the rocket was dropped from beneath the left wing of the jumbo jet.

Virgin Orbit confirmed the mission had been terminated but there was no immediate word on what went wrong with the rocket, which carried a test satellite.