Virgin Galactic’s Delta assembly factory has been completed
Virgin Galactic has completed the building of its new factory where the final assembly of its Delta spaceships will take place.
The facility is based in Phoenix, Arizona, with the production line set to be up and running in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025.
An initial team of Virgin Galactic technical operations and manufacturing personnel has begun preparing the facility to receive and install tooling, expected to arrive in Q4 2024.
The facility will then begin to receive major subassemblies, including the wing, the fuselage, and the feathering system next year, as the team scales to build the first two ships of the Delta fleet.
Once ground testing in Phoenix is complete, Virgin Galactic’s mothership will ferry completed spaceships to Spaceport America, New Mexico for flight test ahead of commercial operations, which are expected to begin in 2026.
The multiuse facility includes two hangars equipped with multiple bays, designed for maximum flexibility in building and testing space vehicles.
Work at the facility will be supported by the Company’s digital twin technology, which enables seamless integration between Virgin Galactic and suppliers through real-time collaboration, promoting strong governance and increased efficiency and reliability.
In May 2024, Virgin Galactic opened a ground testing facility in Southern California for Delta subsystems, including avionics, feather actuation, pneumatics and hydraulics, using an Iron Bird test rig.
Virgin Galactic’s Delta spaceships will seat up to six private passengers, and each is expected to be capable of flying up to eight missions per month, dramatically increasing access to space.
Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier said: “The completion of our new manufacturing facility is an important milestone in the development of our fleet of next-generation spaceships, the key to our scale and profitability.
“Tooling will begin arriving in a matter of months to support spaceship final assembly, which we expect to commence in Q1 2025.”
