Virgin Galactic flight take a look at director Mark Stucky leaves firm

Mark “Forger” Stucky, Virgin Galactic’s flight take a look at director and pilot, is now not with the area tourism firm.

“I’m now a former Director of Flight Check and former SpaceShipTwo pilot,” Stucky wrote in a submit on LinkedIn.

He added in a touch upon LinkedIn that he didn’t go away the area tourism firm “alone timeline.”

Virgin Galactic confirmed to CNBC that Stucky “is now not employed,” however didn’t clarify additional.

“We thank him for his 12 years of service on the flight take a look at program,” a Virgin Galactic spokesperson mentioned in a press release.

Stucky helped develop Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo system, serving first because the engineering take a look at pilot for Scaled Composites — which constructed the spacecraft for Virgin Galactic — earlier than spending the final six years as Virgin Galactic’s lead take a look at pilot and director of flight testing.

He piloted Virgin Galactic’s first take a look at flight that reached area, launched Dec. 13, 2018. The Federal Aviation Administration awarded Stucky – the 568^th individual to fly to area – the “Business Astronaut Wings,” an honor the U.S. has given to those that cross the 80-kilometer boundary that the federal government acknowledges as area.

Along with main Virgin Galactic’s first spaceflight take a look at, Stucky as additionally the pilot commanding the primary glide flight and first rocket-powered flight of SpaceShipTwo spacecraft VSS Unity.

Stucky has flown greater than 170 several types of plane all through his profession, which additionally included the U.S. Marines, NASA and the U.S. Air Pressure.

Virgin Galactic has seven pilots on workers to fly VSS Unity and the service plane VMS Eve. The corporate most just lately added two pilots to that corps in October 2020, when it employed Royal Canadian Air Pressure pilot Jameel Janjua and U.S Marine Corps pilot Patrick Moran.