Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc (NYSE:SPCE) completed the first test of its mothership since being forced to delay its maiden commercial flights due to a malfunction in its VSS Unity rocket almost a year and a half ago.
The space tourism company said its VMS Eve craft, which is designed to carry its VSS Unity passenger rocket into the sky so they can complete the journey to the edge of space, this week carried out its first flight since September 2021.
With Virgin aiming to begin commercial flights from the second quarter of the year, the mothership “took to the skies” for a flight test above its manufacturing facilities in Mojave, California, the company said in a tweet last night.
YOU asked, WE answered — Today, #VMSEve took to the skies above Mojave, CA. Virgin Galactic’s Director of Flight Test Kelly Latimer explains how and why we flight test following the completion of Eve's upgrades → https://t.co/cQgtnzFsIw pic.twitter.com/LcaAqB7oX7
— Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) February 16, 2023
The “functional check flight” was carried out following the completion of upgrades to Eve to gather data on various aircraft parameters onboard and on the ground.
The biggest change to Eve was on its ‘launch pylon’, the part of the craft in the centre of the wing between the two fuselages that cradles and releases it.
Eve’s check flight lasted over two and a half hours, reaching a maximum altitude of around 12,650 meters (just above 41,000 feet), according to flight tracking data reported by SpaceNews.
A separate update from Virgin Galactic pilot Kelly Latimer also revealed that the Unity rocket, where possible malfunctions affected the famous first flight for founder Sir Richard Bransnon, is “ready and waiting”.
“After we complete system checks during initial flight test, Eve will fly what we call a ferry flight to New Mexico.”
The former US Air Force lieutenant colonel added: “we have some more testing to do with the mothership and spaceship combined – including more ground testing, glide and powered flight to complete the required validations of the vehicle’s modifications.”
Last month, the New Mexico-based company said the ground tests were starting on the mothership ahead of flight tests to check the "enhancements" made after the enforced delays to its first commercial flights in 2021 on the back of worries about a possible malfunctioning component in the Unity rocket.
In getting its aircraft ready for first passenger flights, the company has been forced to abort several missions over the last few years due to technical issues.
The flight that took founder Branson up to the boundaries of space in the summer of 2021 was later revealed to have suffered a few wobbles that had to be investigated by aviation authorities.