--- title: "Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Rocket Company Files for Bankruptcy" description: "The moment has at last come for Sir Richard Branson to hang up his satellites and give up the ghost now that it has filed for bankruptcy." date: "2023-04-04" modified: "2023-04-04" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/virgin-orbit-bankruptcy" categories: - "Off-World" - "Space" tags: - "rockets" - "sir richard branson" - "the digest" - "virgin orbit" --- # Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit Rocket Company Files for Bankruptcy ![Gabe Ginsberg via Getty / Futurism]() *\Image: PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images\* ## Knightly Errors The moment has at last come for Sir Richard Branson to hang up his satellites and give up the ghost. In a [statement to investors](), Virgin Orbit announced that it would be filing for bankruptcy and preparing to sell to prospective new owners after only six years of existence. "We believe that the cutting-edge launch technology that this team has created will have wide appeal to buyers as we continue in the process to sell the company," the company's CEO, Dan Hart, said in the statement. ## Nosediving Value This is, of course, not exactly a surprising turn of events given that in January, the company admitted that one of its [rockets disintegrated upon launch](), and last month Virgin Orbit first [furloughed its staff]() to "conserve capital" before [outright laying off 85 percent of them](). As [*Reuters* notes](), the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing issued in Delaware lists the sale of Virgin Orbit's assets as being worth between $100 and 500 million dollars — a far cry from the [$3.7 billion valuation]() it boasted when the company went public back in 2021. After the layoffs last week, the [*BBC* pointed out]() that the company founded to [compete with Elon Musk's SpaceX]() had never turned a profit despite Branson injecting a reported $10.9 million into it from his investment company. ## Galactical As of right now, it's unclear who may end up buying VO or its assets. Another question: what this all means for Virgin Galactic, Branson's space tourism company that has for years been [selling $250,000 tickets]() to take well-heeled passengers on "space planes" into short low-Earth orbit trips — in spite of not actually having launched a commercial flight yet. Although the space tourism outfit is slated to launch its first commercial flight later this year, reports [from *The Guardian*]() about the company experiencing a spate of safety issues might further complicate that. While [Virgin Galactic's stock price]() has indeed fallen significantly over the past month, there's a non-zero chance the space tourism company stays afloat — that is, if it can get its act together in ways that the satellite spinoff couldn't. **More on satellites:** *[Startup Wants to Use Robots to Make Drugs in Space]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()