Virgin Orbit

Virgin Orbit was founded on March 2, 2017, as a spinoff of Virgin Galactic, taking over the LauncherOne program that had begun inside the space-tourism venture. Its pitch was responsive, flexible access to orbit for small satellites: rather than launch from a fixed pad, a modified Boeing 747-400 named 'Cosmic Girl' carried the two-stage LauncherOne rocket aloft and dropped it at altitude, where the rocket ignited and flew to low Earth orbit. The concept promised launches from almost any runway and freedom from weather and range constraints that bind ground-launched rockets. Backed by Branson's Virgin Group and, later, Abu Dhabi's Mubadala, the company built out manufacturing in Long Beach, California, and test operations in Mojave.

After a first orbital attempt failed in May 2020, Virgin Orbit reached orbit for the first time on January 17, 2021, deploying ten CubeSats for NASA. It followed with successful commercial missions in June 2021, January 2022, and July 2022 - four orbital successes in all. Riding the launch-startup enthusiasm of the era, the company merged with NextGen Acquisition Corp (SPAC ticker NGCA) on December 30, 2021, and began trading on Nasdaq as VORB at a roughly $3.7 billion valuation. The deal raised far less than hoped, however - about $228 million versus an anticipated $483 million - leaving the company thinner on cash than its headline valuation suggested.