"Virgin Galactic Investigates Pin Detachment During Space Tourism Flight"
Virgin Galactic's space tourism flight was grounded after a small part, an alignment pin, fell off the mothership of its rocket-powered space plane during the Galactic 06 mission. The company stated that the part loss did not affect the mission's safety and that it will work with the FAA on a review of the issue. The FAA will conduct a mishap investigation and must approve Virgin Galactic's final report and corrective actions before the company can return to flight. Virgin Galactic plans to provide further updates after the completion of the joint FAA review and aims to conduct the Galactic 07 mission in the second quarter of 2024.