Virgin Galactic said the pin was unable to support the shuttle’s weight as it climbed to a certain altitude.
Virgin Galactic Holdings, the company founded by Richard Branson, said on Monday it encountered in-flight hardware issues on a recent crewed space tourism flight.
A pin used to align Virgin Galactic’s space plane VSS Unity and its carrier aircraft VMS Eve when they were docking on the ground later became detached during the Jan. 26 flight. Virgin Galactic said the pin was unable to support the shuttle’s weight as it climbed to a certain altitude.
“Dislodged pins have never had a safety impact on the vehicle or those on board,” the company wrote in a statement.
The company did not specify the cause of the pin failure. It noted that after VSS Unity was deployed, the pin became detached, at which point it no longer served any active function for the remainder of the flight.
Virgin said it discovered the problem during a routine post-flight inspection and notified the FAA on January 31. The company added that it was conducting a review with the FAA. An agency spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After nearly two decades of development, Virgin Galactic will begin commercial space operations in 2023. Since then, the company has flown six tourist and research flights, taking customers to the edge of space and back.
Virgin Galactic has been grappling with in-flight issues for years. When the company’s founder, Branson, flew into space in 2021, the space plane veered off its intended flight path, triggering an accident investigation overseen by the FAA. In 2014, a space plane operated by Virgin Galactic crashed after its wings turned prematurely during flight, killing one test pilot and injuring another.
Virgin Galactic said it would provide further updates and confirm the timing of its next mission, currently planned between April and June, following a review with the FAA.
The review comes amid heightened scrutiny of the FAA and the aerospace industry following manufacturing issues affecting Boeing Co’s 737 Max 9 jet.
However, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is prohibited from enforcing safety standards on commercial spacecraft carrying humans into space, although this legislative moratorium is set to expire on March 8.
Virgin Galactic’s Jan. 26 flight was the first time the company sent four tourists into space without Virgin Galactic astronauts as support crew.
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