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63-Year Old Becomes First Private Astronaut
By Tucker Sutherland, editor
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Michael W. (Mike) Melvill is
Vice President/General Manager and a Test Pilot at Scaled
Composites, LLC. He has 19 years experience as an
experimental test pilot.
Flight Experience:
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First flight of the Model 72
GRIZZLY prototype, a short take-off and landing bush
plane.
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First flight of the Model 77
SOLITAIRE prototype, a self-launching single place
sailplane.
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First flight of the Model 81
CATBIRD prototype, a high performance 5 place general
aviation aircraft.
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First flight of the Model
120 PREDATOR prototype, a high performance crop duster.
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First flight of the Model
144 prototype, ultimately flown as a UAV.
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First in flight firing of
the GAU-12/U25mm cannon in the Model 151 ARES jet
fighter.
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First flight of the Model
202 BOOMERANG, Burt’s unconventional high performance
twin.
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First flight of the Model
226 RAPTOR, later flown as an RPV.
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First flight of the Model
281 PROTEUS, a high altitude research twin engine jet.
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First flight of the Model
316 SPACESHIPONE
Participated in the
flight testing of the following:
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Beech Starship prototype (NGBA)
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Fairchild’s Next Generation
Trainer for the US Air Force (NGT)
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ARES, a single engine,
ground support jet fighter.
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Pond Racer, a twin engine
racing plane, designed to break the unlimited piston
powered world speed record.
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He is the only person to
have flown in the Voyager Aircraft besides Dick Rutan
and Jeana Yeager.
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Total flight time: 6950
hours in 127 fixed wing and 11 helicopters
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Holds FAA Commercial
certificate, ASEL, AMEL, instrument airplane,
Rotorcraft-helicopter and Glider
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Associate Fellow of the
Society of Experimental Test Pilots
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Was awarded the Ivan C.
Kincheloe trophy in 1999 for his work on developmental
high altitude flight testing of the model 281 Proteus
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Member of the Aircraft
Owners’ and Pilots’ Association
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Member of the Experimental
Aircraft Association
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Personally built and flight
tested:
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Model 27 Variviggen
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Model 61 Long-EZ
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Flew his Long-EZ around the
world in 1997.
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June 22, 2004 - Mike Melvill, 63, was greeted by
his four grandchildren as he landed SpaceShipOne after becoming the
first private pilot to earn astronaut wings. It was the high mark so far
for seniors in a month that has seen a 101-year old Frank Moody of
Australia and 80-year old former President George H.W. Bush parachute
from airplanes.
Under the command of test pilot Melvill,
SpaceShipOne reached a record breaking altitude of 328,491 feet
(approximately 62 miles or 100 km}.
Melvill, who has set world records for altitude and
speed and logged more than 6,400 hours of flight time in fixed-wing
aircraft and seven helicopters, said the experience "blew me away."
"It was really an awesome sight," he said of gazing
down at the Earth's curvature from 62 miles above, of seeing the planet
in all its various colors and gazing at the California coastline from
Los Angeles to San Diego.
"It was like nothing I'd ever seen before," he
said.
"You really do get the feeling that you've touched
the face of God when you do something like this," the 63-year-old pilot
added.
After the parachute jump on his 80th birthday,
former President Bush said, "Get out and so something. Just don't watch
TV." Melvill certainly did something.
Senior citizens continue to set records for skill,
strength and endurance. Each achievement seems to inspire the next. This
feat was truly extraordinary by a man only two years away from Social
Security and Medicare.
Melvill was not the first “senior citizen” into
space. Dennis Tito was 60 when he paid to become the first space tourist
aboard a Russian spaceship in May of 2001.
About his 8-day trip, Tito said, “Unfortunately,
life is short and I believe that one should do everything possible to
achieve their dreams and hopefully this will be an inspiration to others
to do the same.”
Tier One Website of Scaled Composities – About Flight
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