In space, nobody can hear a pin drop.
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic was forced to ground its rocket after an element fell off during its first space tourism flight of 2024.
The “alignment pin detached” during its most up-to-date spaceflight, Galactic 06, on Jan. 26, the company announced Tuesday.
The pin was used to carry together the 2 halves of the Virgin Galactic spaceship — the “mothership” VMS Eve that pilots the voyage and the rocket that carries tourists into outer space.
Eight people were on board when the incident occurred — 4 pilots divided among the many two aircraft and 4 individuals who paid for the business trip beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
Tickets for the out-of-this-world experience cost roughly $450,000.
Fortunately, the loosened piece didn’t pose any safety impact to the craft or those on board, who returned unharmed to the Virgin Galactic launch pad in Recent Mexico.
The corporate became aware of the detached pin only after it conducted post-flight reviews of the aircraft.
“No public injuries or public property damage have been reported,” the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed.
The spacecraft was grounded, nevertheless, while the FAA investigated what they called a “mishap.”
The alignment pin is used to be certain that the rocket carrying the tourists is aligned to the mothership when mating the vehicles on the bottom during pre-flight procedures.
“During mated flight, because the vehicles climb towards release altitude, the alignment 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,” the corporate said.
“The shear pin fitting assembly remained each attached and intact on the mothership with no damage. While each parts play a task during mated flight, they don’t support the spaceship’s weight, nor have they got an energetic function once the spaceship is released.”
The paired aircraft typically stays attached to the mothership until it reaches a height of 45,000 feet.
Virgin Galactic is required to conduct a final report, including any corrective actions, that should be approved by the FAA before one other flight can take off.
The corporate is planning one other voyage — its seventh ever — for the second quarter of 2024.
Virgin Galactic enjoyed its first business outer space trip in August 2023, nearly 20 years after Branson founded the corporate.
It has since made six trips beyond Earth’s atmosphere, essentially the most recent of which suffered the alignment detachment.