Richard Branson's satellite launching company Virgin Orbit Holdings has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after failing to secure the long-term funding needed to help it recover from a January rocket failure.

The company lodged the filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware seeking a sale of its assets on Tuesday.

It comes less than a week after Virgin Orbit announced the layoff of roughly 85 percent of its 750 employees.

In a statement released following the news, Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart said: "We believe that the Chapter 11 process represents the best path forward to identify and finalize an efficient and value-maximizing sale."

The company listed assets of about $243 million and total debt at $153.5 million as of Sept. 30 in the filing.

Virgin Orbit said: "The Company is focused on a swift conclusion to its sale process in order to provide clarity on the future of the Company to its customers, vendors, and employees.

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"In the interim, Virgin Orbit will continue operating in the ordinary course as a 'debtor-in-possession' under the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court and in accordance with the applicable provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

"Virgin Orbit has filed customary motions requesting that the Court authorize the Company's ability to its use cash on hand and access the DIP financing to support this process, including payment of remaining employee wages and benefits without interruption."

Virgin Orbit went public in 2021 through a blank-check deal, raising $255 million less than expected. Spun off from Branson's space tourism firm Virgin Galactic in 2017, Virgin Orbit air-launches rockets from beneath a modified Boeing 747 plane to send satellites into orbit.

Virgin Orbit's strategy has been that launching small rockets from a 747 in-flight would allow for short-notice launches from anywhere.

But a shift in demand toward larger launch rockets and more cost-effective shared rides to space on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket over the past two years raised the competitive stakes for Virgin Orbit, analysts and industry executives have said.

Virgin Orbit's sixth mission in January with its centerpiece LauncherOne rocket, the first rocket launch out of Britain, failed to reach orbit and sent its payload of U.S. and UK intelligence satellites plunging into the ocean.

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