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News | Virgin Galactic

21.11.2022

Virgin Galactic Appoints Sarah E. Kim as EVP, Chief Legal Officer

10.11.2022

Virgin Galactic Appoints Jayanta Jenkins as Head of Brand & Marketing

03.11.2022

Virgin Galactic Announces Third Quarter 2022 Financial Results And Provides Business Update

03.11.2022

Virgin Galactic Signs Agreement with Axiom Space for Microgravity Research

02.11.2022

Virgin Galactic Announces Primary Suppliers for Delta Class Spaceships

14.10.2022

Inside The First Annual Space For The Curious Event

10.08.2022

Virgin Galactic Appoints Matt Boguradzki as Vice President, Sales and Strategy

03. 08.2022

Virgin Galactic Appoints Mike Moore as Executive Vice President, Spaceline Technical Operations

03.08.2022

Virgin Galactic Announces Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results And Provides Business Update

01.08.2022

Virgin Galactic Secures Land for New Astronaut Campus and Training Facility

21.07.2022

Virtuoso® Partners with Virgin Galactic for Ticket Sales Referral Program

14.07.2022

Virgin Galactic Announces New Spaceship Manufacturing Facility in Mesa, Arizona

06.07.2022

Virgin Galactic Selects Boeing Subsidiary Aurora to Build New Motherships

05.05.2022

Virgin Galactic Announces First Quarter 2022 Financial Results

06. 04.2022

37th Annual Space Symposium – Michael Colglazier Reflections Blog

30.03.2022

Virgin Galactic Appoints Pilot Kelly Latimer to Director of Flight Test

28.02.2022

Land Rover Teams Up With Virgin Galactic For Sweepstakes To Send A Land Rover Vehicle Owner To Space

22.02.2022

Virgin Galactic Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2021 Financial Results

15.02.2022

Virgin Galactic Launches Spaceflight Reservations & New Consumer Brand

08.02.2022

Virgin Galactic Welcomes Blair Rich

23.11.2021

Omaze and Virgin Galactic Announce Winner of Once-in-a-Lifetime Trip to Space

07.11.2021

Virgin Galactic Announces Third Quarter 2021 Financial Results

13. 10.2021

Virgin Galactic Begins Planned Vehicle Enhancement and Modification Period; Unity 23 Test Flight Rescheduled to Follow Completion of This Program

22.09.2021

Virgin Galactic Hires Aparna Chitale as Chief People Officer

18.09.2021

Virgin Galactic Cleared to Fly Following Conclusion of FAA Inquiry

11.07.2021

Virgin Galactic Successfully Completes First Fully Crewed Spaceflight

01.07.2021

Virgin Galactic Announces First Fully Crewed Spaceflight

25.06.2021

Virgin Galactic Receives Approval From FAA for Full Commercial Launch License Following Success of May Test Flight

03.06.2021

Virgin Galactic Announces New Contract for Human-tended Research Spaceflight

22. 05.2020

A Bright Future For Commercial Human Spaceflight

22.05.2021

Virgin Galactic Completes First Human Spaceflight from Spaceport America, New Mexico

20.05.2021

Virgin Galactic Confirms Upcoming Test Flight of VSS Unity in May

10.05.2021

Virgin Galactic Announces First Quarter 2021 Financial Results

12.04.2021

Beth Moses: International Day of Human Spaceflight

30.03.2021

Virgin Galactic Unveils VSS Imagine, The First SpaceShip III In Its Growing Fleet

30.03.2021

Virgin Galactic and Land Rover announce global partnership extension as new Spaceship is revealed

30.03.2021

Meet Dee Chester, Virgin Galactic Future Astronaut and one of the first people to see SpaceShip III Imagine

04. 03.2021

Yajaira Rose-Smith: being a Black female in aerospace

25.02.2021

Virgin Galactic Announces Doug Ahrens as Chief Financial Officer

25.02.2021

Virgin Galactic Announces Aerospace Systems and Engineering Leadership Appointments

25.02.2021

Virgin Galactic Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Financial Results

23.02.2021

Galactic Unite Black Leaders in Aerospace Scholarship and Training Program First Cohort Announced

22.02.2021

Virgin Galactic Announces Legendary Former Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde as Experience Architect

09.02.2021

Virgin Galactic Launches Space Advisory Board

01.02.2021

Virgin Galactic Flight Test Program Update

04. 12.2020

Virgin Galactic Partners with Under Armour to Unveil the Spacesuits for the World’s First Commercial Spaceflight Pilot Corps

01.12.2020

Virgin Galactic Flight Test Program Update – VSS Unity Preparing For First Rocket Powered Flight From New Mexico

23.11.2020

Meet CJ Sturckow; one of the Virgin Galactic Pilots for the First Spaceflight from New Mexico

16.11.2020

Virgin Galactic Adjusts Test Flight Schedule in Response to New State Government COVID-19 Restrictions

09.11.2020

Virgin Galactic Appoints Alistair Burns as Chief Information Officer

05.11.2020

Virgin Galactic Announces Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results

02.11.2020

Virgin Galactic Flight Test Program Update: Spaceflight from New Mexico Progress

27. 10.2020

Virgin Galactic Hires Two New Pilots into its Pilot Corps

14.10.2020

Virgin Galactic Flight Test Program Update – SpaceShipTwo Prepares For First Spaceflight From New Mexico

28.09.2020

Flying payloads on Virgin Galactic

28.09.2020

Changing Perspectives

03.08.2020

Virgin Galactic Unveils Mach 3 Aircraft Design for High Speed Travel, and Signs Memorandum of Understanding with Rolls-Royce

03.08.2020

Virgin Galactic Announces Second Quarter 2020 Financial Results

28.07.2020

Virgin Galactic Reveals SpaceshipTwo Cabin Interior

15.07.2020

Virgin Galactic Announces Michael Colglazier as Chief Executive Officer in Preparation for Commercial Service

25. 06.2020

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Completes Second Flight From Spaceport America

25.06.2020

Virgin Galactic Flight Test Program Update: SpaceShipTwo Preparing For Second Test Flight From New Mexico

19.06.2020

Virgin Galactic and Partners Announce Aerospace Leadership Program for Black Scholars

19.05.2020

Galactic Unite Grants Twelve Scholarships to Students During COVID-19 Pandemic

06.05.2020

Dave Mackay: How I Became A Spaceship Pilot

05.05.2020

Virgin Galactic Enters Space Act Agreement with NASA to Advance High Mach Technologies

05.05.2020

Virgin Galactic Announces First Quarter 2020 Financial Results

01.05. 2020

Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo Completes First Flight From Spaceport America

28.04.2020

Supporting Our Local Communities in New Mexico in the Fight Against COVID-19 by Mike Moses

27.04.2020

Virgin Galactic Signs Space Act Agreement with NASA in the Fight Against COVID-19

20.04.2020

Supporting Our Local Communities in South America: How A Company Reinvented Itself To Save Others

08.04.2020

Supporting Our Communities: Our Work With The Antelope Valley COVID-19 Task Force

25.02.2020

Virgin Galactic Invites Aspiring Astronauts To Take "One Small Step" As Company Experiences Rocketing Global Demand

25.02.2020

Virgin Galactic Announces Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2019 Financial Results

13. 02.2020

Virgin Galactic Welcomes SpaceShipTwo Unity to Spaceport America, New Mexico

12.02.2020

Beth Moses: Reflections of an Astronaut

15.01.2020

Enrico Palermo Appointed as Virgin Galactic's Chief Operating Officer

08.01.2020

Second Spaceship In Virgin Galactic's Fleet Completes Major Build Milestone

16.12.2019

The Spaceship Company attaches feather structure to wing on the next Virgin Galactic spaceship

02.12.2019

Virgin Galactic Places Main Oxidizer Tank Into Next Spaceship

15.11.2019

Virgin Galactic Kicks Off Astronaut Readiness Program

12.11.2019

Virgin Galactic Announces Third Quarter 2019 Financial Results

28. 10.2019

Invest in the Future of Human Spaceflight

25.10.2019

Virgin Galactic Completes Merger With Social Capital Hedosophia, Creating The World's First And Only Publicly Traded Commercial Human Spaceflight Company

23.10.2019

Virgin Galactic Crew and Customers to Receive Space Pins from the Association of Space Explorers

16.10.2019

Virgin Galactic Partners With Under Armour to Unveil the World's First Exclusive Spacewear System For Private Astronauts

10.10.2019

Three Space and Aviation Industry Veterans Agree to Join Board of Directors of Virgin Galactic Holdings

08.10.2019

Boeing To Invest In Human Spaceflight Pioneer Virgin Galactic

02.10.2019

Virgin Galactic and Italian Air Force Announce World First Government Contract For Human Tended Research Flight

18. 09.2019

Virgin Galactic Announces Major Milestone in Manufacture of Next Spaceship

04.09.2019

Galactic Unite Launch STEM Scholarship at New Mexico State University

15.08.2019

Virgin Galactic Opens the Doors to Gateway To Space

14.08.2019

VMS Eve Arrives Home to Spaceport America - A View From Pilot Dave Mackay

31.07.2019

Virgin Galactic Complete Wing For Next Spaceship

19.07.2019

Virgin Galactic and Social Capital Hedosophia Announce Merger to Create the World's First and Only Publicly Traded Commercial Human Spaceflight Company

18.07.2019

Virgin Galactic Reveals Sculpture Entitled "On The Shoulders Of Giants"

09.07. 2019

Investment News - A Message From Richard

20.05.2019

Introducing the Astronaut Edition Range Rover

10.05.2019

Sir Richard Branson Announces Virgin Galactic Move to Spaceport America This Summer As Company Readies For Commercial Service

19.04.2019

Three Virgin Galactic crew presented with Commercial Astronaut Wings at 35th National Space Symposium

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GEORGE WHITESIDES

SPACE ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR

George T. Whitesides is the Chair of the Space Advisory Board, where he is responsible for bringing together aerospace leaders to advise the Virgin Galactic senior management team on the journey towards regular commercial spaceflight, developing the next generation vehicles and exploring new opportunities. Previously, George served as the Chief Space Officer of Virgin Galactic, spearheading the development of future technologies, including high speed, point-to-point travel and orbital flight, after stepping down as CEO in 2020.

George joined Virgin Galactic in 2010 as Chief Executive Officer. During George’s 10 years with the Company, he built the company from 30 people to a workforce of over 900, successfully guiding Virgin Galactic through its human space flight R&D and flight test program, culminating in two space flights. These historic flights saw the first humans launched into space from US soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle, as well as the first woman to fly on a commercial space vehicle. George led the transition of operations from Mojave, California to Spaceport America, New Mexico, and oversaw the company’s successful public listing making it a multi-billion dollar company and creating the world’s first publicly traded human spaceflight venture.

Prior to Virgin Galactic, George served as Chief of Staff for NASA. Upon departure from the American space agency, he received the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award the agency confers.

George’s volunteer service includes Caltech’s Space Innovation Council, Princeton University’s Advisory Council for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, and the Antelope Valley Economic Development & Growth Enterprise. He is a fellow of the UK Royal Aeronautical Society and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.

He previously served as Vice Chair of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, chair of the Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group for the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee, a member of the Board of Directors of Virgin Galactic, a member of the Board of Trustees of Princeton University, co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Space Technologies, and the Board of Virgin Unite USA. George has testified on American space policy before the United States Senate, the United States House of Representatives, and the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy. An honors graduate of Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs, George later earned a master’s degree in geographic information systems and remote sensing from the University of Cambridge, and a Fulbright Scholarship to Tunisia. George is a licensed private pilot and certified parabolic flight coach.

He resides in California with his wife Loretta and two children.

CHRIS HADFIELD

SPACE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Colonel Chris Hadfield is a heavily decorated astronaut, engineer, and test pilot who has commanded the International Space Station. Formerly NASA’s Director of Operations in Russia and veteran of three spaceflights, Hadfield’s many awards include the Order of Canada, the Meritorious Service Cross and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. Hadfield is a three-time NYT bestselling author, a renowned musician, an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo, chair of the board of the Open Lunar Foundation, and host of several internationally acclaimed television series. In addition, Hadfield leads the space stream at the Creative Destruction Lab, one of the world’s top tech incubators.

DR SANDRA MAGNUS

SPACE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Dr. Sandra H. “Sandy” Magnus is the Principal at AstroPlanetview, LLC. Most recently she served as the Deputy Director of Engineering in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for the Undersecretary of Research and Engineering. In that role she served as the “Chief Engineer” for the Department of Defense establishing engineering policy, propagating best practices and working to connect the engineering community across the department.

Dr. Magnus is the former Executive Director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Prior to leading AIAA, she was a member of the NASA Astronaut Corps for 16 years. During her time at NASA she flew in space on the STS-112 shuttle mission in 2002, and on the final shuttle flight, STS-135, in 2011. In addition, she flew to the International Space Station on STS-126 in November 2008, served as flight engineer and science officer on Expedition 18, and returned home on STS-119 after four and a half months on board.

Following her assignment on Station, she served at NASA Headquarters in the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. Her last duty at NASA, after STS-135, was as the deputy chief of the Astronaut Office.

While at NASA, Dr. Magnus worked extensively with the international community, including the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), as well as with Brazil on facility-type payloads. She also spent time in Russia developing and integrating operational products and procedures for the International Space Station.

Before joining NASA, Dr. Magnus worked for McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Company as a stealth engineer. While at McDonnell Douglas, she worked on internal R&D and on the Navy’s A-12 Attack Aircraft program.

Dr. Magnus has received numerous awards, including the NASA Space Flight Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Exceptional Service Medal, and the 40 at 40 Award (given to former collegiate women athletes to recognize the impact of Title IX).

DAVID A. WHELAN

SPACE ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER

Dr. David A. Whelan is the SVP Chief-Scientist of Cubic Corporation. Dr. Whelan retired from Boeing in 2017, as the Vice President, Engineering (BDS) and Board of Directors for HRL Laboratories. Whelan served as Director of the Tactical Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and began his career at Northrop as designer of the B-2 Stealth Bomber. Whelan is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a fellow of the American Physical Society and IEEE. He earned his Ph.D. Physics from UCLA; He holds over 75 US patents.

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GEORGE WHITESIDES

SPACE ADVISORY BOARD CHAIR

Prior to Virgin Galactic, George served as Chief of Staff for NASA. Upon departure from the American space agency, he received the Distinguished Service Medal, the highest award the agency confers.

He resides in California with his wife Loretta and two children.

Anna Kikina flew into space on the American spaceship SpaceX

Anna Kikina is the only woman in the Russian star squad today. And the fifth female professional cosmonaut in the history of Russian cosmonautics, who overcame the gravity of the Earth. (Of the “non-professionals”, another Russian woman, actress Yulia Peresild, went into orbit last year. Let us remind you that she has the main role in the feature film “Challenge”, episodes of which were filmed in space).

On Crew Dragon, Anna is a crew specialist. It flies with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann (commander) and Josh Kassada, as well as Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata. By the way, for the first time the crew of the SpaceX ship was headed by the fair sex. Moreover, both Nicole and Josh Kassada, like our Anna, are also debutants. Only the Japanese have space experience: this is already the fifth flight for him. nine0003

The ship is scheduled to arrive at the ISS in 29 hours. Automatic docking with the station is scheduled for 4:57 p.m. ET (23:57 Moscow time) on Thursday.

So who is Anna Kikina, our new "space lady"?

She is 38 years old. Siberian. Do not occupy either character or hardening - this is noted by everyone who is familiar with her. Master of sports in polyathlon (sports all-around, including running, cross-country skiing, shooting and power gymnastics) and rafting.

She is a hydraulic engineer by profession: she graduated with honors from the Novosibirsk State Academy of Water Transport. She worked as a swimming instructor, guide-guide in Altai, trained rescue cadets, was a radio host… And she also performed 153 parachute jumps! What can I say, luggage!

When ten years ago Roskosmos announced the first open competition for the Russian cosmonaut corps, Anna did not even hesitate. The selection was the most severe, but she took a chance. As she later admitted in one of the few interviews, only her husband knew about it. Nobody else. Involuntarily, I recall the story of the first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, about how she once told her mother that she was skydiving, and she herself flew into space ...

So far, Anna has only participated in the ground-based Russian-American SIRIUS lunar flight simulation experiment. The scientists wanted to know how a long "lift-off from the Earth" could affect the health of the crew. One of the tests was, without exaggeration, draconian: the participants were not allowed to sleep for almost forty hours. And for a snack, they also offered to perform a mathematical cognitive test and pass a "provocative" interview. Anya showed one of the best results.

At that time she tried new space food and grew vegetables "on board", immersed herself in virtual reality, trained to operate a lunar rover, a robotic arm, and telephoto cameras. And even tested the mobile simulator of the new Russian manned spacecraft. nine0003

According to Anna herself, that was one of the decisive stages in her preparation for the current flight. The experimental environment was not much different from the real conditions on board the ship: the participants were in a confined space and carried out a lot of scientific research. Some of which will continue as part of the Crew-5 mission.

Clever, athletic and simply beautiful. It's about her. It is no coincidence that last year Anna Kikina became the prototype of the collectible Barbie astronaut doll.

Direct speech

Vladimir Nosov, Professor of the Siberian State University of Water Transport, Dean of the Faculty of Water Transport Management from 1991 to 2016:

- I am proud of Anya, who studied the sea and river fleet, and conquered outer space. She has two higher educations, one engineering, and the second humanitarian. She received both at our university, and I was her teacher when she received her second specialty - an economist-manager. Imagine - a person has a big load. Students enter economics while still in their fifth year in engineering. And the first time forced to combine full-time study and our evening classes. Received the first diploma, got a job, it began: work during the day, study in the evening. And so sixteen hours a week. Anna not only absorbed everything herself, she also pulled others up. That's what a sincere interest in knowledge means! nine0003

On August 27, 2022, I managed to wish Anna a happy birthday. I share with the readers of "RG" an excerpt from the SMS correspondence ":" Anya, we follow and cheer for you by the whole university "-" Vladimir Pavlovich, hello, it's so nice to receive warm words from you !! I am glad to remember you, thank you and everyone who supports me!! Huge greetings from me personally and warm hugs!! Sincerely, yours, Anya Kikina."

Vladimir Malygin, Dean of the Faculty of Hydraulic Engineering, Siberian State University of Water Transport (during the training of Anna Kikina):

- Anna always wanted to learn something new, and difficulties did not frighten her. Diligence, energy - these are her qualities. And a rare combination of them also with modesty. Anya is a real "star", she helped us out at all competitions and public projects. On the other hand, she never put herself ahead of the team, but was always next to others. May God grant her a successful flight and return with a new achievement.

Prepared by Nina Ruzanova

Oleg Grigoriev, First Vice President of the Russian Rafting Federation:

- Anya is a self-made person. Motivated, goal oriented. Always got what she wanted. We have known her since 2007. Then we held the next competition in Altai, and the team of girls from Novosibirsk "Squirrels" performed there. Not only are they all pretty, but also excellent athletes - they won the selection and in 2008 went to the European Championship in Austria. There were serious rivals at the championship, high competition, our girls were a little short of victory. And they said: "We will work out and come back to win. And we won't even get married until we become champions." They were 19-20 years.

I was always sure that she would “shoot. And so she ended up in the cosmonaut corps. But when Anya returns, I would like to remind her of her promise to win in rafting. Maybe already as a coach. In our sports world, everything we are talking about the flight, we are worried and waiting for news from Anya and a successful return to Earth

Prepared by Natalya Reshetnikova

Richard Branson flies into space: online broadcast of flight

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Photo: Virgin Galactic

70-year-old founder of Virgin Galactic Richard Branson became the first billionaire astronaut, just nine days ahead of fellow space tourism enthusiast Jeff Bezos

The launch of the VSS Unity rocket spaceplane with Branson on board took place at 17:42 Moscow time on July 11, 2021. The launch pad is Spaceport America, built by Branson in the New Mexico desert for almost $250 million. The spaceplane also arrived here after almost an hour and a half of suborbital flight. The spaceplane was launched from the runway aboard the carrier ship VMS Eve, which brought it to an estimated altitude of 15 km, after which VSS Unity independently continued flying to the upper boundary of the mesosphere (80-90 km above the Earth).

According to CNET correspondent Eric Mack, the launch was originally scheduled for 7:00 local time (16:00 Moscow time), but at the last moment was postponed by an hour and a half due to weather conditions.

Thus, Branson became the first billionaire to travel into space. For VSS Unity, this is the first flight with a full crew of two pilots and four astronauts, including Branson. The tests of the spaceplane were successfully completed less than two months ago, on May 22, 2021. nine0003

Branson himself will take part in the inaugural spaceplane flight was announced at the end of 2020, but the exact date appeared in early July, nine days earlier than the date that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will fly into space on his company's rocket blue origin. After that, the press started talking about the “battle of the billionaires for space,” but Branson himself denied the connection between the choice of the date and the competition with Bezos. For its part, Blue Origin refused to recognize Branson's flight as a space flight, since it will take place at an altitude of less than 100 km above the earth, beyond which outer space begins. nine0003

Richard Branson is a 70-year-old British-born billionaire and founder of the Virgin Group. Starting in the recording market in the 1970s, the company has grown into a diversified holding company with assets in transportation and telecommunications.