I followed their live Twitter feed as they attempted this launch. My impression is that this is a very complicated procedure, more so than a regular rocket launch. The rocket is powered by liquid fuel which is a first of its kind, air-launched rocket. The Pegasus of Northrup Grumman has solid rocket motors. The other thing Virgin Orbit is doing differently is that they are pitching the nose of Cosmic Girl up dramatically to release the rocket. This is to give the rocket a better angle than horizontal since it doesn't have a main wing-like Pegasus does. So, there's lots of variable and lots of things that can go wrong with LauncherOne.
Yeah, it was disappointing to hear that the rocket failed. It was a test flight, and there was no customer payload to lose. Still, I rooted for these guys, and they are doing something pretty extraordinary.
Virgin Orbit is focused on launching cube sats and compete with Rocket Lab. Air launch does have a couple of advantages over regular land launches. It allows for launches form any airport. The rocket uses less fuel since it launches at altitude. Virgin Orbit aims to keep the launch prices for the customer significantly lower than the customers of the Pegasus system.
UPDATE: According to Virgin Orbit post dated May 25th, the mission was a success, and data was collected to make modifications for the next flight. This kind of approach is reminiscent of the Russian way of development, which is to use actual tests to figure out the next step of development. It is a practical approach and can be more cost-effective than buying or making specialized test equipment just to develop one rocket. At least, that's opinions that I've heard over the years. I don't know how true that is. I just have to trust what they're doing and hope for the best. Any of these companies could always go the way of XCOR. Commercial space is a big gamble, but Sir Richard Branson is very resourceful, and his team of engineers and professionals seem really capable.
