Torygraph:
British pilot unveiled as first captain of Virgin Galactic space flights
A British pilot is set to fulfil his childhood dream by becoming the first captain to fly tourists into space.
David Mackay, 53, will be the chief pilot for Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic when it begins the first sub-orbital space flights by 2013. More than 400 passengers have already paid £125,000 for the privilege of a weightless flight 100km above the earth's surface.
Mr Mackay, of Salisbury, Wilts., has held a lifelong ambition to a space pilot after watching the 1969 moon landings on TV as a schoolboy.
He said: ''I was a frustrated astronaut all my life. I grew up at a time when space seemed to have no boundaries and lots of us presumed humans would be living on the moon and landing on Mars. When I was 12, I saw the Apollo moon landings and I thought that was really fantastic and exciting and thought that's what I want to do. 'I found out that those astronauts were ex-test pilots, so I rather ambitiously decided that I would join the RAF, become a test pilot, then become an astronaut.''
Mr Mackay has temporarily swapped his home for the Mojave Desert testing ranges in California taking test flights in Virgin's WhiteKnightTwo 'mothership'.
He spent 16 years with the RAF before joining Virgin Atlantic in 1995, working as a captain with Virgin Atlantic.
Mr Mackay is one of four pilots selected to become Virgin Galactic test pilots working with the development team at Virgin's Spaceport centre in the US........