Unlike a Phoenix, Virgin Orbit Will Not Rise Again

Virgin Orbit is history -- and won't be rising from the ashes ever again. Virgin Orbit, Sir Richard Branson's airplane-assisted satellite-launching venture -- as distinguished from Virgin Galactic (NYSE: SPCE), which launches human tourists to space -- had a good run, launching six rockets in the general direction of space over the past three years. Burning through cash at a rate of more than $230 million a year, and in need of more cash -- and quickly -- Virgin Orbit's second-out-of-six-attempts launch failure came at a bad time for the company.