The failure of the first ever satellite mission launched from UK soil is a setback but not a roadblock to the country’s space plans.

The satellites it was carrying could not be released and were lost.

Ken asks:

Recalling the case in the US where a bridge designed by a team of women collapsed, and the millions spent on favouring women over men to do engineering courses, is it possible that this mission failed due to the employment of female engineers in preference to better-qualified men? In other words, could the cost of employing women could have been the failure of the mission? [J4MB: Let’s not forget women in the UK becoming ‘pretend’ engineers, here.]

A good question. A quick Google search led me to Meet the women that help Virgin Orbit launch satellites into space, posted by the company last May. An extract:

Women are traditionally underrepresented in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, but Virgin Orbit is working hard to make sure that it achieves gender equality.

We can only hope Virgin Orbit works less hard on achieving gender equality in future, having seen where it leads to. Maybe the company could introduce a policy of employing only male engineers?

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