ST Aerospace extends maintenance support to Virgin Galactic’s space access vehicle

ST Aerospace, with an established global track record on aircraft maintenance and modifications, now extends its maintenance support from military forces, commercial airlines to the world’s first commercial spaceline. Its US affiliate company VT San Antonio Aerospace will be providing a series of D-level heavy maintenance checks on the Virgin Galactic’s Boeing 747-400 aircraft – the carrier aircraft for its small satellite launch vehicle. During the heavy maintenance visit, the 747-400 will undergo a thorough inspection of all of its airframe structure, with many of its systems to be removed and overhauled in the process. Upon completion of the maintenance visit, the aircraft will undergo various modifications, before entering service with Virgin Galactic, serving as the first stage in the spaceline’s LauncherOne orbital launch system. The aircraft will be inducted at VT San Antonio Aerospace’s facility at the San Antonio International Airport in Texas, US, in December 2015. Maintenance work is expected to complete by early 2016.