Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit FAILS on its first attempt to launch a rocket into space from the wing of a converted 747 due to an 'anomaly' - and Elon Musk is the first to commiserate

• Virgin Orbit confirmed the debut flight over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California was unsuccessful
• Inaugural launch was going to plan until moments after the rocket was dropped from Cosmic Girl
• Then an unidentified 'anomaly' problem forced the mission to be cut short
• It was hoped the rocket could one day be used to launch satellites into space
• Elon Musk, who will launch astronauts into space Wednesday with SpaceX, tweeted his commiserations
• This came just days after Branson dumped $41 million of shares in sister company Virgin Galactic to help prop up flailing airline Virgin Atlantic  

Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit has failed on its first attempt to launch a rocket into space from the wing of a converted Boeing 747 due to an 'anomaly', and was immediately commiserated by rival entrepreneur Elon Musk. 

The company confirmed Monday that the rocket's debut flight over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California was unsuccessful.  

The inaugural launch had appeared to be going well until moments after the rocket was dropped from beneath the left wing of the jumbo jet dubbed Cosmic Girl.

Then an unidentified problem forced Branson's company to cut the mission short. 

Musk jumped to console the crew and company in a Twitter post - just days before he attempts to make history by sending the first US astronauts into space in almost a decade. 

Virgin Orbit announced its failed mission in a Twitter post Monday.

'We've confirmed a clean release from the aircraft. However, the mission terminated shortly into the flight. Cosmic Girl and our flight crew are safe and returning to base,' it read. 

There was no immediate word on what had specifically gone wrong apart from that an 'anomaly' had occurred soon after the engines ignited. 

'LauncherOne maintained stability after release, and we ignited our first stage engine, NewtonThree. An anomaly then occurred early in first stage flight,' Virgin Orbit tweeted. 

We'll learn more as our engineers analyze the mountain of data we collected today. 

The company had previously said the chances of a successful debut flight is just 50:50. 

Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said in a statement following the launch's failure: 'Our team performed their prelaunch and flight operations with incredible skill today. Test flights are instrumented to yield data and we now have a treasure trove of that. 

'We accomplished many of the goals we set for ourselves, though not as many as we would have liked.

'Nevertheless, we took a big step forward today. Our engineers are already poring through the data. Our next rocket is waiting. We will learn, adjust, and begin preparing for our next test, which is coming up soon.'  

There was no immediate word on what had specifically gone wrong apart from that an 'anomaly' had occurred soon after the engines ignited

Will Pomerantz, Virgin Orbit's vice president for special projects, commented during a preflight briefing Saturday that about half of first rocket launches fail.

'History is not terribly kind, necessarily, to maiden flights,' he said.

Mr Hart said during the briefing there had been numerous tests, discussions and introspection to verify that the system was ready.

'In the end the questions are always, has everything been thought about and are there any gaps or seams, and those are the questions you only learn when you commit to flight,' Hart said.

The highly modified jumbo jet took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in the desert north of Los Angeles and flew out just beyond the Channel Islands, where the drop occurred.

The rocket was supposed to fall for a few seconds before the first of its two engines ignited and hurtled it down the coast toward the South Pole to enter a low Earth orbit.

The purpose of the flight was to gather data on every step of the launch process rather than to have a useful satellite in orbit. 

It was hoped the rocket, which was carried into the sky on the wing of a Boeing 747, could one day be used to launch small satellites into space ranging in size from toasters to household refrigerators. 

A successful flight would have helped bring Branson's space venture a step closer to commercial operations and also marked a dramatic step in getting back on track after the coronavirus pandemic sent most employees home earlier this year while work spaces, procedures and mission control were adjusted.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is launching the first astronauts into space from US soil in nine years on Wednesday under his own space venture SpaceX, was one of the first to send his commiserations over Monday's failed attempt.

'Sorry to hear that. Orbit is hard. Took us four attempts with Falcon 1,' he tweeted Monday, referring to SpaceX's first rocket which spectacularly failed in just 25 seconds of its first launch taking flight.  

Monday's failed attempt comes after the company has spent five years developing the 70-foot-long (21.3 meter) LauncherOne rocket. 

It had already been delayed by a day as teams scrambled to empty the fuel canisters due to a faulty sensor on Sunday. 

Virgin Orbit said Sunday the fault had been fixed and the flight would go ahead the following day.

'Our team has worked diligently to resolve the sensor issue and recycle the system,' it tweeted.

'We're now back in the countdown, and are currently targeting another launch attempt tomorrow, with our window again open from 10 AM to 2 PM Pacific (5pm to 9pm UTC).' 

It is not clear how long the setback will affect the company, which has six additional rockets under construction in its factory. 

Virgin Orbit says it has dozens of missions to a value of 'hundreds of millions' on the books for customers including the US Space Force and the Royal Air Force. Internationally, it is working on plans for launches from the United Kingdom and Japan. 

The disappointing launch for Virgin Orbit comes just days after Branson offloaded around $41 million of shares in sister company Virgin Galactic, founded to carry passengers on suborbital flights into the lower reaches of space, in efforts to claw back money to pump into his struggling airline.  

Vieco 10, an investment firm owned by Virgin Group, dumped almost 2.6 million stocks between May 14 and May 15, making up an almost 2 percent stake in Virgin Galactic, according to a regulatory filing last week. 

Shares in Virgin Galactic dived as much as 8.3 percent when news emerged on May 11 that a sale was on the cards. 

Branson had cleared a path to sell up to half of his holdings in Virgin Galactic to raise funds for Virgin Atlantic Airways. 

The airline has been ravaged by the pandemic, putting staff on mandatory unpaid leave in the UK and announcing more than 3,000 jobs will be axed.

Branson came under fire last month for asking the British government for a £500million bailout for the ailing business while the entrepreneur owns a private island in the Caribbean.

He has reportedly also put advisers on standby to potentially handle an administration.