VSS Enterprise PF04

Crew

Peter Siebold

Status: Active
1/1/1971 -
Nationality: American
Type: Private
First Flight: 10/10/2010
Last Flight: 10/31/2014

Peter Siebold is a member of the Scaled Composites astronaut team. He is their Director of Flight Operations was one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo. On October 31, 2014, Peter Siebold and Michael Alsbury were piloting the SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise on flight PF04, when the craft came apart in mid-air and then crashed, killing Alsbury and injuring Siebold.

Michael Alsbury

Status: Lost In Flight
3/19/1975 - 10/31/2014
Nationality: American
Type: Private
First Flight: 10/10/2010
Last Flight: 10/31/2014

Michael Tyner Alsbury was an American test pilot for Scaled Composites. On October 31, 2014, Alsbury was test flying the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise with Peter Siebold. The craft broke up in-flight, resulting in a total loss of VSS Enterprise, which crashed in the California Mojave Desert.

Rocket

SpaceShipTwo – Virgin Galactic

• Family: SpaceShipTwo
• Length: 18 m
• Diameter: 8.2 m
• Launch Mass: 9 T
• Low Earth Orbit Capacity: 0 kg

The SpaceShipTwo was manufactured by Virgin Galactic with the first launch on 2010-10-10. SpaceShipTwo has 53 successful launches and 5 failed launches with a total of 58 launches. 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.

Agency

Virgin Galactic – VG

• Type: Private
• Abbreviation: VG
• Administration: Founder: Richard Branson
• Founded: 2004
• Launchers: VMS Eve
• Spacecraft: VSS Enterprise | VSS Unity
• Country: USA

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.