(New York) The company specializing in space launches for small satellites Virgin Orbit announced on Tuesday that it would permanently cease operations, a few months after the failure of a major operation.

The company of British billionaire Richard Branson, which had already been placed in the American bankruptcy regime (Chapter 11) in early April, auctioned off its main assets, from which it recovered just over $ 36 million.

By the time it arrived on Wall Street in late 2021, it was temporarily valued at over $3.5 billion.

“Throughout its history, Virgin Orbit has been at the forefront of innovation and has made substantial contributions to the field of commercial rocket launch,” the company said in a statement.

Virgin Orbit was created in 2017 by separating from Virgin Galactic, the space tourism company of Richard Branson.

Its objective was to offer a fast and adaptable space launch service for small satellites, a growing market, with a 21-meter rocket launched from a modified Boeing 747.

She suffered a major setback earlier this year when the attempt to launch the first rocket into space from British soil ended in failure.