Virgin Galactic Grounded After Spaceflight Hardware Issue

A detached alignment pin during a recent flight has led to the grounding of Virgin Galactic's spacecraft, pending a review with the FAA.

Virgin Galactic's recent spaceflight experienced a hardware issue with a detached alignment pin, leading to a grounding of its spacecraft and a delay in future missions.
The detached pin, used for aligning the spaceplane with its carrier aircraft, did not pose a safety risk to the crew or vehicles.
Virgin Galactic has notified the FAA and is conducting a review alongside the agency, with a return to flight pending FAA approval of corrective actions.
This incident comes as Virgin Galactic plans to wind down flights with the current VSS Unity spacecraft in favor of developing next-generation spaceplanes.
Virgin Galactic has faced previous in-flight issues, including a fatal crash in 2014 and a mishap investigation in 2021.