Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/25/virgin-orbit-fails-on-first-ro.html
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Uh, different teams worked on these ships, though, right? 
Asking for a friend who plans to try this out post-pandemic:
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How embarrassing it must have been to belatedly realize that they accidentally towed the cruise ship to the launch pad and allowed the rocket ship sink to the bottom of the Atlantic.
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At this point, I wish they would spend more time researching (and cleaning up) the Atlantic, Pacific… pick an ocean, any ocean.
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And to think that Branson was begging the British government for money to pay his employees just a few weeks ago.
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“You will never find a more wretched hive of…”
What’s that? Wrong spaceport?
oops… carry on…
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There was an investigation in to a military procurement report regarding “partial success” when applied to launching missiles from aircraft. It turned out that a partial success entailed the missile coming off its launch rail and then accelerating under gravity until it hit the earth.
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(Video is cued to the launch sequence.)
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The music at the end had a suitably Gerry Anderson vibe to it.
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If things go according to plan they’ll be dumping refuse in the Sea of Tranquility soon.
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Le sigh…
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See also Blue Steel launched from Vulcan…
http://www.loughborough-raes.org.uk/ewExternalFiles/190507%20Blue%20Steel-4.pdf
Actually, Blue Steel was a bit rubbish. But this was 1960, and a hasty fix until ICBM’s from subs could be made to work. I can’t see why people would be pushing minutemen out of a plane in the 70’s. Or what Richard Branson’s at either.
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To quote El Reg, Branson’s schtick is that waiting for access to a launch pad is a drag and that plane-carried rockets can therefore get your kit into space with less waiting and from more parts of the world.
Which is not entirely wrong when you want to launch a small satellite.
As to ICBMs: survivability / 2nd strike capability / exploiting loopholes in SALT et al.
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As Vidal once said, “It is not enough for Musk to succeed. Branson must fail.”, or something.
The spice must flow?
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Alongside the pickle.
