Heightened Alert: Western Nations Caution Travel to Middle East
The United States, Britain, and France have issued advisories urging their citizens to avoid travel to Iran, Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian territories in the coming days
An attempt to launch the first rocket into orbit from UK soil ended in failure on Tuesday, with scientists reporting an "anomaly" as it neared its goal.
"We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information," tweeted Virgin Orbit, organizer of the mission. After taking off from Cornwall, the Virgin Orbit plane flew to 35,000 ft over the Atlantic Ocean where it jettisoned the rocket containing nine small satellites towards space.
It is understood that LauncherOne encountered problems during its second stage after releasing from Cosmic Girl.
The rocket dropped from the aircraft 35,000 ft above the Atlantic, off Ireland's southern coast, just before 11.15 pm, reported Sky News.
The first stage - which sees the spacecraft burst into life after about four seconds before accelerating to more than 8,000 miles per hour - appeared to proceed accordingly.
A short while later, the second stage was supposed to eject the nine onboard satellites into orbit - and this is the vital moment that the so far undefined "anomaly" is thought to have occurred.
Virgin Orbit reported the issue around half an hour after the rocket dropped from the plane.
"We're waiting for the rocket to coast halfway around Earth, deploy its payload, and downlink telemetry. Even when you're moving ~20,000 miles per hour, it takes a while to circle our planet!" tweeted Virgin Orbit.
While engineers tried to establish what went wrong, the plane returned to Spaceport Cornwall safely.
Dubbed Cosmic Girl, the plane took off on Monday night from Cornwall Airport with hundreds of members of the public watching and over 75,000 viewing a live stream of the event.
The seaside town of Newquay played host to history, as an orbital rocket was blasted into space from UK soil for the first time. The LauncherOne craft was taken skyward under the wing of an old Boeing 747, but fell short in its quest to deploy satellites into orbit, reported Sky News.
There was raucous applause and cheering among the 2,000 lucky ticket-holders in attendance in Newquay when the former Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 took off at just gone 10 pm.
Named in tribute to the Rolling Stones' 1981 hit, the mission involved a repurposed Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 aircraft and Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne rocket.
It was originally hoped the launch could take place before Christmas but owing to technical and regulatory issues it had to be pushed into 2023.
Follow Novinite.com on Twitter and Facebook
Write to us at editors@novinite.com
Информирайте се на Български - Novinite.bg
/ANI
We need your support so Novinite.com can keep delivering news and information about Bulgaria! Thank you!
CIA Director William Burns has issued a stark warning, asserting that Ukraine may face defeat in its war against Russia by the end of this year if the United States does not step up its military assistance
EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson conducted an inspection of border control measures at Sofia Airport, marking a significant step in Bulgaria's accession to the Schengen Area by air
Romania is making strides toward joining the Visa Waiver Program, a significant milestone that would enable its citizens to travel to the United States visa-free for up to 90 days
More than 100 pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested Thursday night at Columbia University in New York City
A Russian airstrike on the city of Dnipro in central Ukraine has resulted in the loss of at least eight lives and left 21 individuals wounded
Ukraine's military announced the destruction of a Russian Tu-22 strategic bomber, allegedly involved in nighttime airstrikes targeting Ukrainian cities
UN Happiness Report: Bulgaria's Astonishing Leap in Rankings
Bulgaria: 3 Regions With Lowest Life Expectancy - EU Report 2022