SpaceShipTwo Captain Takes Inaugural Flight

Captain Dave Mackay, Virgin Galactic Chief Test pilot and future pilot of SpaceShipTwo (Source: Virgin Galactic).

Captain Dave Mackay, Virgin Galactic Chief Test pilot and  future pilot of SpaceShipTwo, took his  inaugural flight on board of WhiteKnightTwo, carrier mothership and launch platform for the suborbital spacecraft. This is the first test flight piloted by Virgin Galactic’s own crew: all test flight performed so far have been in fact executed by Scale Composite’s test pilot.

Mackay took his inaugural flight on WhiteKnightTwo VMS Eve, named after Sir Richard Branson’s mother Evette, on August 31, 2011. “It was really interesting to finally sample this amazing machine at first hand and to begin to get to know it properly,” said Mackay. “There is no doubt its performance is truly remarkable and although there may be some challenges in operating such an unconventional aircraft, working around those in return for its designed-in simplicity and reliability is a trade I’d always be willing to accept.”

Over the last year, Scaled Composite performed more than 70 tests of increasing complexity, which culminated with a succesful SpaceShipTwo feathered glide on May 4h, 2011. No details have been revealed so far about when the first suborbital flight will be performed.