‘Rocket flames began shooting sideways then the sound wave hit’

Jonas Kellner from RFA had earlier explained to me what the company was hoping to do.

The purpose of the test was, he said, was to ignite all nine helix engines simultaneously, make sure they ran in a stable manner and then shut them off in safe and controlled manner.

Getting all nine engines to fire simultaneously is complicated.

According to Malcolm Macdonald, Professor of Applied Space Technology at the University of Strathclyde, “space is difficult and rockets are even harder”.

He said one of the challenges when firing multiple engines on the same launch vehicle is to get them firing at the same time, working as a pack.

“They’re all vibrating,” he added, “so getting them all to behave correctly and to perform optimally is a real challenge because of the interference of one rocket engine to the next.”

Testing and subsequent launches can be fraught with difficulty.

The first UK satellite mission launch was from Cornwall at the beginning of 2023.

It ended when the Virgin Orbit jumbo jet lost the rocket it released horizontally after it suffered an anomaly.

Last year a SpaceX starship spacecraft exploded minutes after lift off.

Afterwards, Elon Musk congratulated his team on what he called an “exciting launch” and said they had learned a lot.