Issue 389: Virgin Orbit & Hornets in Iraq

Is aviation’s most exciting project really all over?

The Australian Aviation team were very proud of our cover for issue 387 – an exclusive interview with Dan Hart, the CEO of Virgin Orbit. The company was making global headlines for its brilliant-yet-bonkers plan to fire satellites into space from beneath the wing of a repurposed 747-400. As a big player in the space business, Hart had no real reason to lend me his time for an interview, but being something of an aerospace nut, he decided to do me a favour. Fast forward six months, and the company is now on the brink of insolvency after its milestone launch in the UK ended in disaster – with hopes of launches in Toowoomba in Queensland now all but over.

Had the curse of Australian Aviation struck, or was there something else at work? To find out, I spoke to Michael Jones, CEO of Equatorial Launch Australia, the spaceport firm best known for launching three NASA rockets last year from the Northern Territory. Jones is the perfect interviewee on the matter, having been the founder and CEO of Rex, a senior executive at Virgin Australia as well as CEO of defence firm Raytheon Australia. I hope it makes for an exciting follow-up. Can Hart bring the project back from the dead?