Galactic 06

Frederick W. Sturckow

• Birthday: 08/11/1961
• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 12/04/1998
• Last Flight: 01/26/2024

Frederick Wilford “Rick” Sturckow is an Engineer, retired United States Marine Corps officer, former NASA astronaut, and commercial spacecraft pilot. Sturckow is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. He flew on STS-88 and STS-105 as a pilot and STS-117 and STS-128 as a commander. All four missions docked with the International Space Station, making Sturckow one of two people to visit the station four times. Sturckow later was assigned to the Johnson Space Center as a CAPCOM. He left NASA in 2013 to become a pilot for Virgin Galactic.

Nicola Pecile

• Birthday: 03/11/1973
• Role: Pilot
• Nationality: Italian
• First Flight: 04/26/2023
• Last Flight: 01/26/2024

Former fighter pilot and experimental test pilot for the Italian Air Force, now pilot at Virgin Galactic.

Franz Haider

• Role: Passenger
• Nationality: Austrian American
• First Flight: 01/26/2024
• Last Flight: 01/26/2024

For Austrian entrepreneur and world traveler Franz Haider, the dream of becoming an astronaut started at the tender age of 7, when he saw the Apollo 11 Moon landing. His mother cautioned him, however, that his home country had no space program. But his desire only grew stronger and, at the age of 27 while on a trip to New Zealand, he had an epiphany: “We had reached the farthest point from our homeland, and I was thinking with a friend about how to top that. There was only one thing we could think of: A trip to space or to the Moon.” After waiting 16 years for his spaceflight, Franz says traveling on ‘Galactic 06’ was his grandest adventure yet. “I have always been fascinated by all that our beautiful planet has to offer, and seeing it from space has been profoundly life changing.” His spacesuit displays the Austria and USA flags. On his flight, Franz carried a photo of his 3-year-old son.

Lina Borozdina

• Role: Passenger
• Nationality: Ukrainian
• First Flight: 01/26/2024
• Last Flight: 01/26/2024

As a child in Odessa, Ukraine, Lina Borozdina’s dad would tell her bedtime stories about her cousin and her sneaking onto a spaceship as stowaways to go on space adventures. By age 6, she already knew all the constellations and their associated mythology. “It was all about space for me,” she says. “I didn’t get Cinderella stories.” Flying aboard ‘Galactic 06’ is a dream come true for Lina, and she knows her father, Yuri Borozdin, who still lives in Odessa, is deeply proud of her achievements. A scientist, chemist and breast cancer survivor, Lina was thrilled to see “our fragile blue planet in the infinite vacuum of space. You can’t see wars or suffering from above. Just the beauty of our planet.” Her spacesuit displays the Ukraine and USA flags and breast cancer ribbon. Onboard, she carried personal photos, a small childhood possession and items from her close friends.

Neil Kornswiet

• Role: Passenger
• Nationality: USA
• First Flight: 01/26/2024
• Last Flight: 01/26/2024

Since Neil Kornswiet was a young boy in Ohio, he’s been fascinated with all things space and space travel. He watched the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo launches on his family’s tiny black-and-white TV; he devoured every space-related book he could get his hands on, as well as science fiction by Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, and others; and he was a huge fan of the 1960s TV show Lost in Space. But it was the opportunity to do legislative research for U.S. Senator John Glenn – the former Mercury astronaut –that cemented his lifelong passion for space. During their friendship, the Senator encouraged Neil to try flying airplanes and predicted that space tourism would occur during Neil’s lifetime. Now, after flying aboard ‘Galactic 06,’ space travel has forever changed the way Neil looks at the universe and his place in it, just as Glenn told him it would. Among other things, Neil is a commercial pilot with thousands of flight hours and flies his own Gulfstream G550 jet. His spacesuit displays a USA flag patch as well as a patch honoring John Glenn.

Robie Vaughn

• Role: Passenger
• Nationality: USA
• First Flight: 01/26/2024
• Last Flight: 01/26/2024

Robie Vaughn and his wife, Fallon, strive to lead by example, whether in business, philanthropy or adventure. “We’d like to show that you can have fun while trying your best,” he says. “That philosophy applies to just about everything in life.” Even spaceflight. Flying aboard VSS Unity was the culmination of a lifelong dream for Robie, who grew up watching Apollo missions, often witnessed from the ground at Cape Canaveral, Florida, with his parents. Since then, he has carried on the tradition by traveling to launches with his wife and children. By going to space, Robie hopes to inspire others to never give up their dreams. “Anything is possible if you will allow it to be so,” he says. His spacesuit displays the USA and state of Texas flags. Onboard ‘Galactic 06,’ he carried a string of flags from his Seven Summits expeditions and photos of his family.

Galactic 06

• Type: Tourism
• Orbit: Suborbital

Sixth commercial Virgin Galactic mission.

Spaceport America

Air launch to Suborbital flight

Spaceport America has witnessed the launch of 13 rockets, including 0 orbital launch attempts, while Air launch to Suborbital flight, has been the site for 85 rocket launches.

Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo

The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.

Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company within the Virgin Group. It is developing commercial spacecraft and aims to provide suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic’s suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two.