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Briton to Pilot First Commercial Space Flights
A New Era in Commercial Passenger Travel will be led by British Pilot Capt. David Mackay
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/...69_634x286.jpg Virgin Galactic's SS2 will become the first commercial passenger spacecraft in history 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 Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic when it begins the first sub-orbital space flights by 2013. Over 400 passengers have already paid £125,000 for the privilege of a weightless flight 100km above the earth's surface. The aspiring astronaut spent 16 years with the RAF before joining Virgin Atlantic in 1995, working as a captain with Virgin Atlantic. Mr Mackay is one of just four pilots selected to become Virgin Galactic test pilots working with the development team at Virgin's Spaceport centre in the US. The WhiteKnightTwo is a jet-powered cargo aircraft which will be used to launch the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft carrying commercial passengers. It will take about an hour for the mothership to reach an altitude of 50,000ft before the spacecraft it is carrying is launched. The spaceship will then fire its rocket motor and accelerate to 2,500mph in less than a minute as it leaves the atmosphere. Describing what the passengers will experience, Mr Mackay said: 'It will be close to 4g acceleration which is a huge push in the back. 'So it will be a very exciting rocket ride, it will last about a minute during which they will be pinned back into their seats. 'There will be an increase in noise and vibration so they'll definitely know they are heading into space.' Once the ship is 360,000ft above the planet, passengers will be allowed to unstrap their seatbelts and experience weightlessness. They will see the Earth from above before the craft makes its return in the three-and-a-half hours journey. |
"Mr Mackay said his experience made him the obvious choice to be the first pilot to take tourists into space."
At least he has a good opinion of himself. Any idea what is his exact background in the RAF ? |
Jesus! Great news on a great "first" and a Briton in the front seat and all you can do is snipe!
Pathertic miseryguts. Go away, and please stay away. |
Harrier.
Probably :} |
100km above the earth's surface. |
Meal service? Gratis or do the PAX pay.
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Wonder it they have had any applications from recently out of work space shuttle crews?.
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Originally Posted by SFCC
(Post 6617170)
Harrier.
Probably :} Dave Mackay Mr Mackay joined the RAF in 1979 and spent 16 years with the service, half of that time as a test pilot. He graduated with his test pilot wings from the French test pilots’ school, Ecole due Personnel Navigant d’Essais et de Reception (EPNER) in 1988 through an exchange with EPNER and the RAF’s Empire Test Pilot School. His work included trials on the Harrier G7, before becoming Officer Commander of the Fast Jet Test Flight at Boscombe Down in 1992. In 1995 he left his position as Principal Fixed Wing Tutor at the Empire Test Pilots’ School to join Virgin Atlantic. He became a captain on the Boeing 747 in 1999 and also flew the Airbus 340. He has flown over 11,000 hours on over 100 different types of aircraft. |
Agaricus,
I was not sarcastic at all when asking what his background was in the RAF (and I'm not british) Thank you to the colleague posting an answer just above : so yes, fighter pilot, graduate of the FRENCH Test Pilot School, and then a full career in Flight Test at Boscombe Down (so a real test pilot at least this time) before embrassing a little bit of airline career, appropriately with Virgin. Nothing to add, well done fellow, and best wishes. |
Meal service? Gratis or do the PAX pay. |
Good Luck to him
With that extra 4% he just got he must be quids in! :rolleyes: BTW where can I bet this is all just spin? :E 11,000 hours does that mean he'll be able to cover all the planet? or just a small part of the ocean? Answer on a post card :ugh: |
I believe I met David in 2009. I must have his business card lying around somewhere at home (complete with Virgin Galactic logo if I recall correctly!).
If it's the same chap, then I can say that he was a really friendly, down to earth guy, and gave me a lot of encouragement with my own flying career. As far as I recall he also flies warbirds for the Shuttleworth Collection. And all-round nice guy. :ok: |
Space...
Admit it, given a chance any of us aviators would give the ole left one for the opportunity eh :E
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So, when does this hallowed place get renamed "PPARune - Professional Pilots and Astronaughts Rumour Network"? ;)
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Admit it, given a chance any of us aviators would give the ole left one for the opportunity eh It's more a sort of very limited and expensive mission, to briefly spend some time above the atmosphere, to seek out slightly new sensory experiences for jaded, thrill-seeking millionaires, to tentatively go part of the way to where lots of men have gone before.... I think because space is space people sometimes tend to overestimate how interesting it actually is. Did you know, for example, that there isn't a single good pony trekking trail in space? It's true! I looked it up. It also turns out there are no Italian restaurants, no golf courses, no beaches, and not a single place to get a beer. :ugh: My advice to those "space tourists" (does it even count as tourism if you stick your head into a place for a few minutes?) would be to save themselves about £124,000 and go to Majorca. |
No Golf and no BEER?
Right; that's off my "to do" list then. |
My guess is that those who go for it will not be disappointed.
An ex-US Army colleague of mine managed to get aboard the SR-71 trainer. He told me it was a life-changing experience. |
Fantastic for the pilots and crew.
I'm no God botherer but... there's something obscene about people pi$$ing $125000 away on a fairground ride, when kids are drawing there last starving breath in East Africa. Sorry to preach chaps. |
But what about the hosties??? :}
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I trust the flight will stow a large compliment of sick bags... Weightless vomit (as many here will know) gets everywhere!
Well done to Captain Mackay though and good luck to the already (clearly) lucky passengers. Caco |
Do they have a P2F scheme? I'm there! How much would TR cost?
I'm joking calm down calm down (Liverpudlian accent) |
'It will be close to 4g acceleration which is a huge push in the back.' |
"Captain?"
Still a commissioned officer? |
I'm no God botherer but... there's something obscene about people pi$$ing $125000 away on a fairground ride, when kids are drawing there last starving breath in East Africa. |
PPRUNE never fails to surprise me...
This is a GREAT achievement. It might not be pushing the boundaries in NASA terms but it is a world first and in a world where we seem to be taking successive steps backwards, I applaud it. He's a lucky bastard and I for one wish I had his job. |
I am a 'God-botherer' and have difficulty seeing that this enterprise is somehow less worthy than taking 150+ would-be drunks and drug takers to Ibiza on a Friday night - something I, alas, do regularly.
Regarding Dave Mackay, he is a magnificent guy who I came across in the RAF. He is pleasant, intelligent, professional and humble. His background is that he was a Harrier pilot before becoming a Test Pilot in the RAF, where he flew numerous RAF and ther nations' fast jets. From memory, after a tour on Fixed Wing Test Sqn at Boscombe, he became an ETPS tutor. He eventually left and joined Virgin where he eventually became a senior captain. As an aside, he is also one of the senior pilots of the Shuttleworth Collection where he flies numerous old warbirds from Huricanes to Sopwith Camels. He has been involved with the Virgin Galactica program from the beginning and is about as well-qualified as you could wish for the job. He has done numerous other things not mentioned here and, frankly, his likely success is great news for UK PLC and could not happen to a better guy. Well done and the very best of luck. |
Come on lets be patriotic on this one ! Im sure he will do a great job for our country and "fly the flag" .......oh that reminds me of a 70`s Ad, for some other airline :}
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This is awesome, he is a very lucky guy. Yes this may be $125,000 for a 'fair ground' ride at the moment, but the technology and lessons learned from this venture could well open up all sorts of opportunities in the private space flight sector.
Good on you Virgin, I hope it is a great success, and like above, I wish I had this job. :ok: |
Does anyone know whether S.J or A.H are still involved with the programme ?
If so, are they due to fly the second/third flights or will Dave Mackay be flying all the first few flights as PIC. |
there's something obscene about people pi$$ing $125000 away on a fairground ride, when kids are drawing there last starving breath in East Africa. It was Biafra then, wasn't it? Or was it Newark? |
Why so much buzz around $125k? That's a cost of a decent car in Europe or 1.5 decent cars in US. And there are tens of thousands driving on the streets around you, and surely many of us have one in garage. And keep changing them every few years. How does it compares to once-a-life experience of space flight for the same bucks?
I remember taking MIG25 fun ride to FL800 - our planet looks quite different from that altitude. One day when technology is mature I would definetely consider to try a space flight. Famina, Afghan, Iraq, Obama, Gaddafi, Somali and all kind of other stuff is already dealed with from our taxes. Can we have a break and just enjoy the life a little bit? |
125k is about the same as you would pay for a max range one way charter flight in a Gulfstream. I don't see too many people wingeing about that!
For a trip into space it's cheap at 1/2 the price. |
£125.000, I wouldn't go on the thing if they paid me that sort of cash.
I would want a lot of flights and safe returns under their belt, before I trust them with my life! with all of the regulations we have to deal with, to fly the public on jet aircraft, how on earth do they get permision to take fare paying punters on something like this. Don't get me wrong, I think it's fantastic that we are going to do something that puts nassa to shame, but I am still surprised they can take fare paying punters on it! Before I get shot down in flames, I am not against this project, just amazed they get it past the CAA. |
£125.000, I wouldn't go on the thing if they paid me that sort of cash. I would want a lot of flights and safe returns under their belt, before I trust them with my life! with all of the regulations we have to deal with, to fly the public on jet aircraft, how on earth do they get permision to take fare paying punters on something like this. |
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Some VG facts:
Once out of the atmosphere the entire tail structure of the spaceship can be rotated upwards to about 65º. The feathered configuration allows an automatic control of attitude with the fuselage parallel to the horizon. This creates very high drag as the spacecraft descends through the upper regions of the atmosphere. The feather configuration is also highly stable, effectively giving the pilot a hands-free re-entry capability, something that has not been possible on spacecraft before, without resorting to computer controlled fly-by-wire systems. The combination of high drag and low weight (due to the very light materials used to construct the vehicle) mean that the skin temperature during re-entry stays very low compared to previous manned spacecraft and thermal protection systems such as heat shields or tiles are not needed. Following re-entry at around 70,000ft, the feather lowers to its original configuration and the spaceship becomes a glider for the flight back to the spaceport runway. .. just amazed they get it past the CAA. VG's home base Spaceport is in New Mexico (not far from the White Sands missile test centre) and all their air/spacecraft are US registered. https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-a...4ks/N339SS.jpg The Spaceship Company's SS2 the 'VSS Enterprise' N339SS will be the first of five SS2's offering commercial passenger space flights https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c.../Spaceport.jpg Virgin Galactic's New Mexico Spaceport which is nearing completion https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-P...0Feathered.jpg The SS2's 'feathering' system for 'low speed' re-entry I recall seeing a photo in the late 70's of a pair of Rutan VariEze's with the caption "Looking more like interceptors from Star Wars .." Incredible to think that this home-build composites hobby junkie has ended-up leading the design and technology on the world's first commercial passenger service. Bravo! :D . |
That answers my question, I knew the CAA wouldn't be likely to authorise anything like this, but the FAA are far more relaxed.
Even most of the other JAA states have far more relaxed rules than the good old campaign against aviation here in the UK. |
Vmax ???
I assume it never reaches escape velocity, but does anyone know what peak velocity they plan to attain?
Max altitude?? |
It never gets anywhere near escape velocity, or even orbital velocity! Vmax is somewhere around mach 6 I think.
Peak altitude for scientific flights is between 110-120km, not sure about the passenger flights - but I guess they're about the same. |
I don't know what all the fuss is about...after all, it's hardly rocket science is it?
....oh wait....:} |
Vmax is somewhere around mach 6 I think. |
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