Mike Melvill

Mike Melvill
Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill

Melvill receiving the first commercial astronaut wings
Commercial Astronaut
US - FAA Astronaut Wings.png
Nationality South African / American
Born November 11, 1940 (1940-11-11) (age 71)
Johannesburg, South Africa
Other occupation Test Pilot
Time in space ~10 mins
Selection SpaceShipOne 2003
Missions SpaceShipOne flight 15P, SpaceShipOne flight 16P

Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill (born November 11, 1940) is one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne on its first flight past the edge of space, flight 15P on June 21, 2004,[1] thus becoming the first commercial astronaut and the 434th person to go into space.[2] He was also the pilot on SpaceShipOne's flight 16P, the first competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition.[3]

Contents

Early life / Family

Melvill was born in Johannesburg, South Africa before his family moved to Kloof near Durban. He attended Highbury Preparatory School and Hilton College. Later on Melvill moved to the United States from England in February 1967 and became a U.S. citizen in 1972. Melvill is married; he and his wife Sally have two sons and four grandchildren.

Test pilot

Melvill met Burt Rutan when he showed Rutan the Rutan VariViggen he had built at his home.[4] A longtime acquaintance of Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan, Melvill has flown the first flights of ten of Rutan's aircraft. Melvill also helped develop the release mechanism for SpaceShipOne. He was the vice president and general manager of Scaled Composites, LLC; he has 25 years of experience as a test pilot, and has logged nearly 7600 hours in over 130 types of aircraft; he retired in October 2007.

Awards & achievements

The first "Commercial Astronaut" Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill, reviews the first private space flight with Scott Crossfield

Melvill is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots; in 1999, he received their Iven C. Kincheloe award for his work in high-altitude development testing Scaled's Model 281 Proteus. Melvill also built his own Long EZ aircraft, which he flew around the world with Dick Rutan in 1997. He is also the only person other than Dick Rutan or Jeana Yeager to have piloted the Voyager aircraft. Melvill is the sole or joint holder of nine FAI aviation world records in various categories.[5]

Melvill was the pilot for SpaceShipOne flight 15P, SpaceShipOne's first spaceflight and the first privately-funded human spaceflight mission to reach space, on the morning of June 21, 2004.[6] In a ceremony two hours after landing, Melvill was awarded his astronaut wings, specifically the FAA Commercial Astronaut badge, the first wings awarded for a non-government space program and the first for a spaceplane flight since the X-15 flights of the 1960s. In 2004 Melville received his second Iven C. Kincheloe Award for his work on the SpaceShipOne program.

References

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mike Melvill — bei der Überreichung des Astronautenabzeichens Michael Winston Melvill, genannt Mike Melvill (* 30. November 1940 in Johannesburg, Südafrika), ist ein amerikanischer Unternehmer und der erste Astronaut, der als Pilot mit einem rein privat… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Mike Melvill — recevant les premières ailes d astronaute commercial Nationalité américain Naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mike — Cette page d’homonymie répertorie les différents sujets et articles partageant un même nom. Ce prénom, diminutif de l anglo saxon Mickaël (et de ce fait fêté le 29 septembre), est notamment porté par : Sommaire 1 Personnalités …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Michael Melvill — Mike Melvill bei der Überreichung des Astronautenabzeichens Michael Winston Melvill, genannt Mike Melvill (* 30. November 1940 in Johannesburg, Südafrika), ist ein amerikanischer Unternehmer und der erste Astronaut, der als Pilot mit einem rein… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Edward Mike Fincke — Michael Fincke Michael Fincke Astronaute Nationalité américain Naissance 14 mars 1967 (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvanie) Temps total passé …   Wikipédia en Français

  • SpaceShipOne — Space Ship One redirects here. For the album by Paul Gilbert, see Space Ship One (album). SpaceShipOne …   Wikipedia

  • Mojave Air and Space Port — in 2009 IATA: MHV – ICAO: KMHV …   Wikipedia

  • SpaceShipOne flight 15P — Infobox Space mission mission name = Flight 15P insignia = spacecraft name = SpaceShipOne booster = White Knight sign = SpaceShipOne crew members = Mike Melvill (Pilot) launch pad = White Knight launch = June 21, 2004, 14:50 UTC, Mojave, CA… …   Wikipedia

  • Mojave Airport & Spaceport — |d=LoffAoffDbSoff|s=. [cite gnis|1653745|Mojave Airport] It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, being certified as a spaceport by the Federal Aviation Administration on June 17 …   Wikipedia

  • SpaceShipOne flight 16P — Infobox Space mission mission name = Flight 16P insignia = spacecraft name = SpaceShipOne booster = White Knight sign = SpaceShipOne crew members = Mike Melvill (Pilot) launch pad = White Knight launch = September 29, 2004 Ground: 14:11 UTC… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”