Spaceport boss slams sexism in the sector as she prepares to step down

Spaceport Cornwall’s departing boss has blasted sexist behaviour in the male-dominated sector.

Melissa Quinn, who oversaw the first ever space launch from UK soil in January, which ended in failure when the Virgin Orbit rocket suffered what was described as an ‘anomaly’, is leaving after nearly ten years at the firm.

Revealing that ‘from time to time’ the job ‘got ugly’, she said: ‘I just felt like I didn’t have a lot of support to maintain my own level of security and safety for my family as well.

‘So for me, it was more of a personal decision to step out of the limelight in Cornwall.’

Quinn – who has been appointed general manager of US-based space data and tracking company Seradata – added: ‘It is a very male-dominated industry. 

Failed launch: Melissa Quinn (pictured), oversaw the first ever space launch from UK soil in January, which ended in failure when the Virgin Orbit rocket suffered an ‘anomaly’

‘I could write a book about some of the ridiculous stuff that has been said to me.

‘It has been important to me that I didn’t just sit back and be quiet – that I added to the conversation. But also that I held them to account when they were blatantly being quite sexist.’

She said she would often confront the behaviour and ‘call it out’.

‘Unless we do that, they continue to get away with it,’ she said.

Quinn said she had a difficult time following the failed Virgin launch.

‘A lot of people wanted to point fingers and it is easy to point the finger at the person who was running it,’ she said. 

‘But I feel that unfortunately these days with social media, things can spread like wildfire very quickly, can be very personal and they are kind of left unchecked.

‘At the end of the day, there is a human at the end of everything and it hurts, of course it hurts.

‘It got to the point where I just thought for my own family and for me it was time I took a bit of time out of that spotlight.’