David MacKay to fly Sir Richard Branson into space

Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci are going to be flying VSS Unity during the next test flight window, beginning on July 11.

The test flight is to give Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, an opportunity to test the “private astronaut experience”.

Before becoming an astronaut, Dave spent 16 years in the RAF. He was also a test pilot at Boscombe Down and awarded the Air Force Cross in 1992.

On leaving the RAF he joined Virgin Atlantic in 1995 as a commercial pilot and then moved to Virgin Galactic in 2009.

Dave MacKay Picture credit: Virgin Galactic 

The chief pilot of Virgin Galactic, and former Winterbourne Dauntsey resident, piloted SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Unity, into outer space during a mission in February 2019 becoming the 569th human in space. 

ALSO READ: Dave Mackay is Salisbury’s first man in space >>>

The Unity 22 mission set to take place this month will be the 22 flight test for VSS Unity and the company’s fourth crewed spaceflight, who include Branson himself, Beth Moses, Galactic's chief astronaut instructor; Colin Bennett, lead operations engineer; and Sirisha Bandla, vice president of government affairs. CJ Sturckow and Kelly Latimer will be flying VMS Eve.

VSS Unity in space over New Mexico Picture credit: Virgin Galactic 

Sir Richard Branson said: “I truly believe that space belongs to all of us. After more than 16 years of research, engineering, and testing, Virgin Galactic stands at the vanguard of a new commercial space industry, which is set to open space to humankind and change the world for good.

"It’s one thing to have a dream of making space more accessible to all; it’s another for an incredible team to collectively turn that dream into reality. As part of a remarkable crew of mission specialists, I’m honoured to help validate the journey our future astronauts will undertake and ensure we deliver the unique customer experience people expect from Virgin.”

The next test flight, taking off from Virgin Galactic’s spaceport in New Mexico, will be “evaluating the commercial customer cabin with a full crew, including the cabin environment, seat comfort, the weightless experience, and the views of Earth that the spaceship delivers".

The company said it also wants to demonstrate the conditions for conducting human-tended research experiments and confirm the training programme at Spaceport America supports the spaceflight experience.

Michael Colglazier, the chief executive officer of Virgin Galactic, added: “Our next flight – the 22nd flight test for VSS Unity and our first fully crewed flight test – is a testament to the dedication and technical brilliance of our entire team, and I’d like to extend a special thank you to our pilots and mission specialists, each of whom will be performing important work.

“Tapping into Sir Richard’s expertise and long history of creating amazing customer experiences will be invaluable as we work to open the wonder of space travel and create awe-inspiring journeys for our customers.”

Following this flight, Virgin Galactic says the team will complete inspections of the vehicles and an extensive data review, which will inform the next steps in the test flight programme.

Two additional test flights are planned before it expects to start commercial service in 2022.

Virgin Galactic were given the go-ahead to fly paying customers to space after its licence was updated by the United States’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier this month.

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