Founded in 2017 as a spin-off of the existing Virgin Galactic enterprise to focus on commercial launch, Virgin Orbit ultimately failed, closing its doors and selling its assets in early 2023. As with Virgin Galactic, Virgin Orbit designed a launch service organized around air launch, essentially using the carrier aircraft as the first stage. The company went public through a SPAC merger in 2022; prior to going public it was owned by Virgin Group and Mubadala. Ultimately, the company felt the pressure of many companies aimed at the smallsat market segment in that period, leading to its closure. During its time as an active business it launched six times, four of which were successful.
Prior to its founding, Virgin Orbit functioned as a unit of Virgin Galactic from 2007-2017, during which time White Knight Two, the carrier aircraft for Virgin Galatic's spacecraft, was planned to be used as the carrier aircraft for LauncherOne. The move to a Boeing 747 carrier aircraft occurred as the weight of LauncherOne continued to scale up during development.
