Tue, May 18, 2010
Former Chief Of Staff To Administrator Bolden
Virgin Galactic, the US based and regulated Space Tourism
Company, is delighted to announce the appointment of George T.
Whitesides (pictured, right) as its first Chief Executive
Officer. In this role, Whitesides will guide the business through
its transition from a development project to a commercially
operational business.
Whitesides joins Virgin Galactic from his recent role as Chief
of Staff of the NASA. While there, Whitesides was responsible for
working to implement the NASA Administrator's policy agenda and
staffing decisions.
Prior to his role as NASA Chief of Staff, Whitesides served as a
member of the NASA Presidential Transition Team, Executive Director
of the National Space Society, and Chair of the Reusable Launch
Vehicle Working Group of the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA)
Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee. Whitesides'
earlier career experience in the aerospace industry took place at
Orbital Sciences Corporation, Blastoff Corporation and the Zero
Gravity Corporation. A licensed private pilot and certified
parabolic flight coach, Whitesides is a graduate of Cambridge and
Princeton Universities and a former Fulbright Scholar.
"George brings with him a wealth of experience in space
business, policy and regulation. He joins Virgin Galactic at a
momentous moment in the development of the company," said Virgin
Galactic President, Will Whitehorn. "Test flying of the first
SpaceshipTwo (VSS Enterprise) has commenced and our future home at
Spaceport America in New Mexico is at an advanced stage of
construction. In addition our commercial team has accepted over
$65m worth of reservations from 335 future astronauts and the
Company is holding deposits of over $45 million."
"I am honored to be given the opportunity to lead this historic
business which will open the experience of space travel to people
around the world," said Whitesides. "There is much to achieve at
Virgin Galactic over the coming years as the company moves from the
extensive test flying program and FAA licensing process into
commercial operation of frequent spaceflights from our new home at
Spaceport America in New Mexico. There is a great team at Virgin
Galactic and I'm greatly looking forward to growing the business
and establishing operations at the Spaceport."
Virgin Galactic has developed the WhiteKnightTwo and
SpaceShipTwo air launched space system over the past six years
using technology developed by Scaled Composites based on the X
Prize winning SpaceShipOne which was piloted twice into space in
October 2004 and now hangs in the Smithsonian Institute in
Washington DC. The recently developed SpaceShipTwo is capable of
carrying eight people into space. The finished vehicle was
officially named VSS Enterprise by Governors Richardson and
Schwarzenegger at an unveiling ceremony on the 7th December 2009
before commencing test flights which are now under way in Mojave
CA.
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