spacetoday.net: Virgin Orbit to sell assets and shut down

Posted: Fri, May 26, 2023, 10:49 PM ET (0249 GMT)
Virgin Orbit LauncherOne drop test (Virgin Orbit)

Virgin Orbit will cease operations after selling most of its assets to three aerospace companies. Virgin Orbit said Tuesday that the companies made the winning bids with a combined value of nearly $36 million at a bankruptcy auction. Stratolaunch bid $17 million for the Boeing 747 plane and related equipment, Rocket Lab $16.1 million for its main production facility in Long Beach, California, and Vast $2.7 million for a test site in Mojave, California. Virgin is finalizing a separate deal with a liquidator for equipment at another facility in Long Beach, but said it was not selling its inventory, which includes several LauncherOne rockets in various phases of production, at this time. Virgin Orbit confirmed it would shut down after completing the sale of the assets.