The first UK rocket taking satellites into space has suffered an anomaly - spelling an end to the mission
Virgin Orbit said it was evaluating the information and would share more information when it could
The mission saw a repurposed 747 jumbo jet release the LauncherOne rocket over the Atlantic to take nine satellites high above the Earth
In the past, satellites produced in the UK have been sent to foreign facilities to make their journey into space
This first foray into orbital launch from UK territory is actually using an American company, Virgin Orbit, that was founded by Sir Richard Branson
The British entrepreneur had one of his old passenger airliners converted to carry a rocket underneath its left wing
We're finishing our live reporting here now after the UK's first orbital space launch ended in failure.
You can keep up with latest developments on the BBC website here.
The writers of this live page were Brodie Owen and Malu Cursino, and it was edited by Chris Giles and Georgina Rannard.
Our reporters in Newquay were Rebecca Morelle, Jonathan Amos, Johnny O'Shea and Jonathan Morris.
Melissa Thorpe, head of UK Spaceport, has also just spoken emotionally to journalists.
"We put so much into this, everybody has and we're like a big family. So it is absolutely gutting," she said.
We still don't have a lot more information about the cause of the anomaly - it seems we will need to wait until experts have looked into the problem.
"Virgin will be deep diving into the data," Thorpe said.
She says she's happy with how the spaceport performed and that it proves the potential of UK space industry.
"The airport was amazing, the operation side of it just went completely to plan. So we're just here to support you know, get virgin backup and get another rocket over here."
"We're enabling access to space and, and we did that today. That's a huge win to show that we can do it here," she says.
Matt Archer, the UK space agency launch program director, has told journalists in Newquay he's disappointed but proud of what the mission achieved.
"The second stage engine had a technical anomaly and didn't reach the required orbit," he said. He didn't give any more explanation for the failure.
Virgin Orbit and the UK government will now investigate the cause of the problem, he says.
"We'll dust ourselves off and we'll go again. This is what space is about - it is hard," he said.
Johnny O'Shea
Reporting from Spaceport Cornwall
People who had been at Spaceport Cornwall to watch the launch have started to leave the site.
"It’s really just been amazing and the experience itself was phenomenal," said Louise Morey.
Jim Bradshaw, who watched the take off from the viewing area with his sons Matty and Ashley, said they all enjoyed the atmosphere despite the rocket reportedly having suffered an "anomaly" that prevented it from reaching orbit.
Rebecca Morelle
Science editor
We were all glued to the livestream in the media centre - after the rocket was dropped and the engines ignited it all looked like it was going so well.
But then the gasps of “oh no” as the news of the anomaly came through.
The mood here is muted as we wait to find out what’s happened. There’s lots of speculation, but we need to hear from Virgin Orbit exactly what went wrong.
And it looks like Virgin Orbit are ending their live stream of the Cosmic Girl launch.
"Thanks for joining!" is what their stream has to say now.
Our reporters at Spaceport Cornwall say that crowds gathered to watch the launch have started to head home.
Virgin Orbit hasn't yet given more information about the anomaly it reported.
Rebecca Morelle
Science editor at Spaceport Cornwall
We're waiting to find out more information about what's happened to the rocket. But Cosmic Girl has just returned to Spaceport Cornwall - landing on the runway here.
In terms of it's track record - Virgin Orbit's maiden launch failed, but the next four were a success. We're hoping to find out what the anomaly was that has scuppered this UK launch.
Johnny O'Shea
Reporting from Spaceport Cornwall
There was a muted cheer as Cosmic Girl landed back in Newquay.
Earlier, the crowd let out a collective groan as Virgin Orbit announced the rocket may have suffered an "anomaly" that prevented it from reaching orbit.
Cosmic Girl has touched now back onto UK soil.
It is still unclear what exactly has happened to the rocket the plane was carrying and if the mission was a success - we will bring you more as soon as we know.
It looks like LauncherOne has suffered an "anomaly", according to Virgin Orbit who've been monitoring the rocket's progress.
It's tweeted: "We appear to have an anomaly that has prevented us from reaching orbit. We are evaluating the information."
Stay with us as we bring you the latest as we get it.
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Cosmic Girl is understood to be minutes away from landing safely back at Spaceport Cornwall.
The aircraft which was carrying the rocket, was able to travel some 35,000ft over the Atlantic ocean and release the LauncherOne rocket.
We're now just waiting to hear from the Virgin Orbit team about the status of the rocket and if the nine satellites have made it into orbit successfully.
Rebecca Morelle
Science editor
Nine satellites will be delivered into space in tonight’s launch. One of these belongs to Space Forge, a tech start-up based in Cardiff.
They describe their satellites as mini-factories where they can manufacture materials. “In space, with the absence of gravity, you can mix together any different materials you want,” says Chief Technology Officer Andrew Bacon.
“So if you take the whole periodic table, and start putting things together - like lead, aluminium, rubidium, einsteinium - there are billions of new alloys that you can now make that you couldn't make on Earth.
Those materials could be used in electric vehicles, green technology or computing, he suggests.
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent at Spaceport Cornwall
Let’s take a closer look at the satellite going into orbit on the Virgin Orbit rocket.
Prometheus-2 is a pair of satellites that carry novel radio systems that can both listen(eavesdrop) to the radio environment and transmit signals. They also carry hyper-spectral imagers. These are cameras that see the Earth's surface at a multitude of different wavelengths of light.
The Coordinated Ionospheric Reconstruction CubeSat Experiment (CIRCE) is a pair of satellites carrying "space weather" sensors. Space weather describes the interaction of energetic particles and magnetic fields emitted from the Sun with the Earth's upper atmosphere. These interactions affect the performance of other satellites and radio communications around the Earth.
IOD-3 Amber will listen for the radio transmissions from ships at sea. This is a pathfinder for an eventual constellation of satellites that would use this method to locate vessels not directly advertising their position. It's a way of detecting illegal fishers and smugglers.
The radios on Prometheus-2 could do the same.
Dover is a satellite that will test a novel way to provide precise timing information from space. It's a pathfinder for another constellation that would provide a back-up to GPS and Galileo.
ForgeStar-0 is the first ever Welsh satellite that will test key technologies for an eventual constellation of mini-factories that would fabricate novel materials in space, eg new types of alloy. The spacecraft will test part of the mechanism needed to bring these materials back to Earth.
Aman is Oman’s first ever satellite mission. It will take pictures of the Earth's surface.
Stork-6 is another imaging satellite for the Polish company SatRev.
Watch: Virgin Orbit rocket released from plane into sky in UK first
The LauncherOne rocket has been successfully released from the repurposed Boeing 747 aircraft, Cosmic Girl.
The rocket is taking nine satellites high above the Earth in the first orbital space launch to take place from UK soil.
Rebecca Morelle
Science editor at Spaceport Cornwall
And the rocket has been dropped. A big moment for this launch.
On hearing the words “release, release, release” from mission control, the pilot, Mathew “Stanny” Stannard will have pressed a small red button in the cockpit, releasing the rocket.
About 4 seconds later, its engines ignited - beginning its journey onwards and upwards.
This mission won’t be deemed a success until the satellites are on their way in about an hour’s time.
Meanwhile, the jumbo jet - Cosmic Girl - is on its way back to Spaceport Cornwall. Its part of the mission is complete.
We've just had confirmation that the LauncherOne rocket has now been successfully released from the repurposed Boeing 747 aircraft.
The rocket, which contains nine satellites, will begin its journey at an altitude of approximately 35,000ft and the first stage engine has been ignited to start the climb towards space.
Image source, Virgin OrbitThe aircraft is now just off the southern coast of Ireland and it is nearing the designated launch zone.
The pilot has taken Cosmic Girl around what looks a little like a racetrack in the sky - 35,000ft above the Atlantic.
"Things are about to get very exciting," the narrator has just said on the coverage from Virgin Orbit's live feed. You can watch that by clicking on the link at the top of our page.
Image source, .Johnny O'Shea
Reporting from Spaceport Cornwall
Image source, Spaceport CornwallIn the early days of Cornwall's bid to build a spaceport "we got laughed at", Spaceport Cornwall boss Melissa Thorpe recalls.
"There were memes of pasties and cream teas being sent into space... but here we are."
Cornwall Council has put £12m into the spaceport project, alongside £7.85m from central government."
All the way through there has been a fair amount of scepticism," Louis Gardner, the Cornwall Councillor with current responsibility for the project said.
"By investing in the spaceport we have not just invested to launch rockets into space. We have invested in a whole industry."
He said there were now 150 jobs across Cornwall that exist as a direct result of the spaceport, contributing about £200m annually to the local economy.
"We fully expect that to increase over the next five years, exponentially. Businesses are now interested in moving to Cornwall as a direct result of the spaceport."
The spaceport itself is projected to employ 50 people in the next three years.
Image source, ReutersSpectators gathered in and around Spaceport Cornwall in Newquay to watch Cosmic Girl take off earlier.
Many will wait to see the plane return from its historic mission sometime around midnight.
Image source, ReutersPeople took photos around a replica LauncherOne rocket at Cornwall Airport Newquay
Image source, ReutersSpaceport Cornwall merchandise was available to buy
Image source, ReutersA person wearing an alien costume poses for a photographer during the event
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
Image source, Getty ImagesIt'll take about another 20 minutes before Cosmic Girl reaches the designated launch zone just off the coast of Ireland.
On arrival, Virgin’s chief pilot Mathew Stannard will turn the Virgin Orbit plane on to a course that looks a little like a racetrack, even though it’s 35,000 ft (10km) above the Atlantic.
At first, this course will take the jumbo towards the Republic, but then Sqn Ldr Stannard will turn again to point the plane southwards.
When all systems are ready, he’ll pull the nose of the 747 up and his co-pilot, Eric Bippert, sitting alongside, will reach out in the cockpit to press a small red button.“Release, release!”.
The LauncherOne rocket will fall away. The sudden departure of 25 tonnes from under the left wing will make the plane bank hard to the right.
That’s actually quite useful because it takes the jumbo away from the moment of ignition which occurs four seconds into the rocket’s fall.
LauncherOne should rapidly accelerate and head skyward. Its first stage will burn for three minutes. The rocket will then separate and the upper segment, or second-stage, will ignite to carry the journey on upwards.
After six minutes, the achieved velocity will mean the satellites when ejected will be in orbit around the Earth.