On Tuesday, Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, significantly altering the trajectory of an industry pioneer. The company is the first space SPAC to collapse, an event that will send ripples through an industry full of newly public companies navigating challenging and unfamiliar waters. Virgin Orbit was for years a frontrunner among small launch startups, championing air-launch as a versatile, differentiated way to reach orbit. But a series of challenges before, during and after the company went public proved too much. Quilty analysts, which have followed Virgin Orbit for years, spent the week pouring over old articles, SEC filings and bankruptcy documents to produce this report. We provide our assessment of what went wrong, and equally important, what may happen next for VORB.