Virgin Atlantic Cosmic Girl, a repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft carrying a rocket, is parked at Spaceport Cornwall, at Cornwall Airport in Newquay, England, Monday, Jan. 9, 2023. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)
Hopes were high for Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne mission slated for Monday but an anomaly prevented the rocket from launching into orbit.
In what would have been the the first-ever orbital mission launch from the UK, seemed to be going off without a hitch after Virgin Orbit's 'Cosmic Girl' jet carrier transported the LauncherOne rocket from Cornwall to a drop point located in the Atlantic Ocean outside of Ireland.
In another tweet, the company backtracked that confirmation but details into why the launch into orbit were not available.
The LauncherOne mission set out to launch nine small satellites into orbit, with at least one of them being used to conduct technology demonstration for the UK's Ministry of Defense, according to NASA Spaceflight.
A storm churning in waters off the eastern U.S. has increased to tropical storm strength and is forecast to reach the North Carolina coast Friday morning, the National Hurricane Center said.
A NASA spacecraft will fly by Earth on Sunday and drop off what is expected to be at least a cupful of rubble it grabbed from the asteroid Bennu, closing out a seven-year quest.
