Firefly Aerospace Acquires Remaining Assets of Defunct Virgin Orbit

Firefly Aerospace has acquired the remaining assets of Virgin Orbit for $3.8 million, marking the end of the defunct satellite-launch company. The purchase by Firefly included the leftovers from a May auction that generated $36 million in Virgin Orbit’s bankruptcy proceedings. The acquisition was reported in June 15th filings in a Delaware bankruptcy court, according to SpaceNews.

Firefly Aerospace’s acquired assets include inventory at two former Virgin Orbit manufacturing facilities in Long Beach, California. Among them are engines and other components from Virgin’s LauncherOne vehicles, as well as two other engines stored in Mojave, California. In last month’s auction, Virgin Orbit said it “considered it in the best interest of the debtors’ assets” to hold the remaining assets until further notice. Negotiations reportedly continued later, leading to this week’s sale to Firefly.

The once-promising Virgin Orbit, a Virgin Galactic spinoff that specializes in launching satellite rockets from modified Boeing 747s, saw its stock plummet in the months leading up to the crash. Only four of the company’s six flights between 2020 and 2023 were successful, and its most recent attempt earlier this year failed due to the detachment of a $100 fuel filter. The company went into “operational hiatus” in March as a last-gasp attempt to find new investors before filing for bankruptcy protection and finally throwing in the towel a couple of weeks later.

Meanwhile, Firefly Aerospace, based in Cedar Park, TX, is developing a launch vehicle called Firefly Alpha. The two-stage liquid fuel rocket is designed to be launched from different locations. Its first attempt failed in 2021, but the rocket was partially successfully launched the following year. The company plans to launch a third for the US Space Force.