Virgin Galactic begins operation at Delta spaceship ground testing facility

Virgin Galactic announced that it has opened a new system integration facility in Southern California for the Company’s Delta Class spaceships. This ground-based test facility, which houses a testing platform known as an “Iron Bird,” has begun tests of initial subsystems and will add components over the course of the year to increase its scope and effectiveness. Using an Iron Bird test rig is common practice in aerospace development programs and allows Virgin Galactic to test and verify the operation of dozens of Delta subsystems – including avionics, feather actuation, pneumatics and hydraulics. This strategic investment is an important building block to ensure efficient production and safe operations of the Delta Class spaceships, allowing the team to validate the functionality of components early in the development process. The production timeline for Virgin Galactic’s Delta fleet remains on track for commercial service to launch in 2026. Final assembly of the Delta ships will take place at Virgin Galactic’s new Delta facility in Phoenix, Arizona. The Delta Class spaceships are being built to be capable of flying eight space missions per month with twelve times the monthly capacity of our original spaceship, VSS Unity.