Ruby Feneley
Last week the three person crew from Virgin Galactic’s second spaceflight received their Commercial Astronaut Wings from the Federal Aviation Administration. They included Chief Pilot David Mackay, Lead Pilot Trainer Mike ‘Sooch’ Masucci and Chief Astronaut Instructor Beth Moses. Beth Moses is now the first woman to have gained her Commercial Wings.
The Commercial Wings were presented by FAA’s Administrator for the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, Wayne. R Monteith. And Monteith was ebullient about the future of commercial space travel. He announced that “Commercial human spaceflight is now a reality”. He said that issuing the three wings was just a small symbol demonstrating that we are well on our way to a “new and exciting chapter of space travel.”
Beth Moses free-floated as she performed cabin validation checks during the February 22nd test flight. She said “It was a honor to receive my Commercial Astronaut Wings today. Since the flight we have been assessing the findings from my cabin evaluations; I’m excited by what the results are showing and looking forward to incorporating what we learnt into our cabin outfitting and astronaut training program.”
Virgin Group Founder Richard Branson was awarded The Space Achievement Award. And he is a man on a mission. He said the flight was “another historic moment as we continue towards our mission of becoming the worlds first commercial spaceline.”
