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Pin detached during Virgin Galactic spaceflight
VMS Eve, Virgin Galactic’s mothership, with the six-passenger VSS Unity spaceship attached to its wings, sits inside the hanger at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico.
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An alignment pin detached from the launch pylon of Virgin Galactic’s VMS Eve mothership during the company’s most recent spaceflight from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico.
The company announced that it discovered the issue during a post-flight review of the “Galactic 06” spaceflight last month. The company notified the Federal Aviation Administration on Jan. 31.
It was the company’s first spaceflight of 2024 and its eleventh overall.
There were four commercial customers onboard the flight.
“At no time did the detached alignment pin pose a safety impact to the vehicles or the crew on board. Virgin Galactic flights occur in restricted airspace and at specific geographical launch locations that control the hazards to people or structures on the ground,” Virgin Galactic said in an announcement Friday. “The company also observed no damage to the spaceship or the mothership.”
Virgin said in a news release that the pin helps ensure the spaceship is aligned to the mothership when the vehicles are connected on the ground before the flight. During the flight, the pin helps transfer drag and other forces from the spaceship to the shear pin fitting assembly and into the pylon and center wing of the mothership.
Virgin said that is will provide a further update later and confirm the flight window for the “Galactic 07” spaceflight, which is planned for the second quarter of 2024.
Virgin Galactic previously said it will soon suspend spaceflights from the southern New Mexico facility and instead focus its resources on making its next generation Delta spaceships.
The Delta spaceships are expected to start making test flights next year and commercial flights in 2026.
The last few month’s have been turbulent for Virgin. Last year, the company laid off 18% of its workforce, including 73 employees in New Mexico
