Astronaut wings

Enjoyed a flying visit to the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. The event is a unique gathering of people from across the space sector, and we had a very special reason to be here – receiving our FAA astronaut wings.

Virgin Galactic

But first, Virgin Orbit had some very exciting news to share about the first ever orbital launch from a UK spaceport. Virgin Orbit will launch the latest satellite in the Catapult’s In-Orbit Demonstration program into space later this year.

Virgin Orbit

I joined Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Hart, Head of Spaceport Cornwall Melissa Thorpe, and UK Space Agency CEO Paul Bate in Colorado to announce the flight, which will demonstrate for the first time how launch from the UK can benefit the country’s rapidly growing space sector.

It was wonderful to spend some time with the Virgin Orbit team, alongside the Virgin Galactic team and many more friends from the space community.

Virgin Orbit

Then, as a member of the first crewed spaceflight by a commercial company, I was honoured to join my fellow Virgin Galactic mission specialists Sirisha Bandla and Colin Bennett in receiving our wings from the FAA.

Virgin Galactic

It was also wonderful to catch up with our fourth mission specialist, Beth Moses, and our amazing Unity 22 pilots, Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, who all received their astronaut wings at the Space Symposium in 2019.

I must admit, I felt like a big kid stood up there at an astronaut wings ceremony. A wings ceremony for commercial astronauts! When we started Virgin Galactic, the very idea seemed like a dream.

At the ceremony, I love how Sirisha summed up the opportunities that Virgin Galactic is creating: “I remember as we returned back to Earth, I couldn’t help but wonder who is going to be sitting in this seat after me. I had no idea; it could be anyone. And then it hit me. It could be anyone. And that is incredible and exciting.”

And Colin described the wonder of the experience we shared so well: “The overwhelming amount of beauty that I saw when I looked out of the window at apogee was equaled by the expressions of joy and astonishment that I saw when I looked back inside the cabin.”

Virgin Galactic

One of the things I am most excited about for our Future Astronauts is that as well as going to space, you come back to Earth with a new purpose, and with dear friends who shared in the experience of a lifetime with you. I hear from so many people excited about becoming an astronaut one day. This is especially true of young people.

My beautiful grandchildren were very much in my mind as we flew to space – “Papa going to the moon!” they cheered at me.

They were the first to greet us when we touched back down to Earth. My message from space was to inspire the next generation of dreamers – and that mission continues today. As the saying goes, if you can see it, you can be it.