As Virgin Galactic prepares for its first commercial space flights
planned for later this year, the company is adding some heavy hitters to
its roster of pilots. Former NASA pilot Frederick "CJ" Sturckow and
former US Air Force lieutenant Colonel Michael "Sooch" Masucci have
joined the Virgin Galactic team, and both bring some pretty impressive
credentials as the company moves into the final testing phases before
the program's full launch. Sturckow participated in four space shuttle
missions, has more than 26 years of military flight service, and has put
in more than 1,200 hours in space and 6,500 flight hours overall.
Masucci hasn't been to space yet, but he's a similarly accomplished
pilot — he has 30 years of civilian and military flight experience
totaling more than 9,000 hours across some 70 different aircrafts. Both
pilots will be working out of Virgin Galactic's Mojave, CA location
where they will be trained and begin testing with the WhiteKnightTwo and
SpaceShipTwo aircrafts — the latter of which recently completed its first rocket-powered test flight.
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