The company says that expert flyer is a great addition to the company

Nov 2, 2011 11:43 GMT  ·  By
Keith Colmer, a former test pilot for the USAF, is now the pilot of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft
   Keith Colmer, a former test pilot for the USAF, is now the pilot of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital spacecraft

United States Air Force pilot Keith Colmer has been selected by Virgin Galactic to become the lead pilot of SpaceShipTwo, the suborbital spacecraft that the company is developing for conducting joyrides at the edge of space.

He is now the first commercial astronaut pilot to be selected for such a position. Virgin plans to begin conducting suborbital flights as soon as 2013. A large number of seats on its SpaceShipTwo-class spacecraft has already been sold, even if only one prototype of the vehicle exists at this point.

During the flights, each of these spacecraft will soar to an altitude of about 100 kilometers, or 62 miles, which is considered to be the edge of space. The vehicles will however not complete an orbit around the planet before landing back in the Mojave Desert.

The Virgin Galactic's flight team is currently made up of Colmer and chief pilot David Mackay, according to a Virgin Galactic statement released on October 26. Mackay initially worked with Virgin Atlantic, which is a sister company to Virgin Galactic.

Colmer, on the other hand, was selected from a pool of 500 applicants that wanted the job. His credentials were outstanding, the company says, which is why he managed to get the job in the end.

The pilot completed well over 5,000 hours of flight – the equivalent of 208 days – in over 90 types of aircraft throughout his career, Space reports. In addition, his 12 years of flight experience also took him in two war campaigns over Iraq.

“I am extremely honored to have been the first astronaut pilot selected through competition to join the team. Virgin Galactic is truly revolutionizing the way we go to space, and I am looking forward to being a part of that,” Colmer said in reaction to his selection.

“Keith brings the kind of tremendous multi-dimensional talent and skill set that we are looking for in our astronaut pilots,” a statement from Virgin Galactic president and CEO George Whitesides said.

“But equally important to us are his impeccable character and his outstanding record of high caliber performance in highly demanding environments. He sets the bar very high for others to come,” the top Virgin official explained.

Colmer is now scheduled to begin flight tests with the SpaceShipTwo as soon as possible. The tests will be carried out in the Mojave Desert, where the spacecraft's builder – Scaled Composites – is based.

“This team in Mojave is second to none. Keith and I are indeed fortunate to have their expertise and body of work to build on as we enter the final phases of the test program and prepare to open space to all,” Mackay says of Scaled test pilots.