For the first time in history, a crewed spaceship, built to carry private paying passengers, reached space. Watching on from the flight line with the incredible Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company teams was one of the proudest moments of my life.
SpaceShipTwo reached space with two new private pilot new private astronauts – our brilliant pilots Mark “Forger” Stucky and Frederick “CJ” Sturckow – on board. A 60 second planned rocket motor burn propelled SpaceShipTwo to almost three times the speed of sound and to an apogee of 51.4 miles. After a supersonic atmospheric re-entry, utilising SpaceShipTwo’s unique “feathering” configuration, our pilot astronauts and spaceship received an emotional homecoming welcome as they arrived safely back on earth.
SpaceShipTwo is now the first crewed vehicle built for commercial service to reach space. (With due credit of course to the amazing SpaceShipOne prototype for paving the way.) It was wonderful to have the Federal Aviation Administration with us on stage to acknowledge today’s achievement and announce that in Washington next year they will present Forger and CJ with their private astronaut wings.
