VSS Unity 25

Michael Masucci

• Role: Commander
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 12/11/2013
• Last Flight: 11/02/2023

Mike “Sooch” Masucci was a former U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and U2 test pilot.

Frederick W. Sturckow

• Birthday: 08/11/1961
• Role: Pilot
• 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.

Christopher Huie

• Role: Passenger
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 05/25/2023
• Last Flight: 05/25/2023

Aerospace engineer, senior manager of Virgin Galactic’s Flight Sciences Engineering team.

Jamila Gilbert

• Role: Passenger
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 05/25/2023
• Last Flight: 05/25/2023

Virgin Galactic internal communications lead

Luke Mays

• Role: Passenger
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 05/25/2023
• Last Flight: 05/25/2023

Former NASA astronaut instructor, now astronaut instructor at Virgin Galactic.

Beth Moses

• Birthday: 05/30/1980
• Role: Passenger
• Nationality: American
• First Flight: 02/22/2019
• Last Flight: 10/06/2023

Beth Moses is Chief Astronaut Instructor and Interiors Program Manager for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo program, and is a commercial astronaut. She was the first woman to make a spaceflight on a commercially launched vehicle, the VSS Unity VF-01 flight of 22 February 2019.

VSS Unity 25

• Type: Test Flight
• Orbit: Suborbital

Virgin Galactic return to space mission ahead of the first commercial flight.

Spaceport America

Air launch to Suborbital flight

Spaceport America has witnessed the launch of 14 rockets, including 0 orbital launch attempts, while Air launch to Suborbital flight, has been the site for 86 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.