SpaceShipOne test pilots:  Douglas B. Shane  ·  Peter Siebold  ·  Brian Binnie  ·  Michael W. Melvill

Pilot Biography

MICHAEL W. MELVILL

Mike Melvill is Vice President/General Manager, a Test Pilot and one of 10 owners of Scaled Composites LLC in Mojave, California. He has worked for Burt Rutan for 27 years, and has 23 years of experience as an experimental test pilot.

He holds an FAA Commercial pilot’s certificate, ASEL, AMEL, instrument airplane, Rotorcraft-helicopter and Glider. He recently became the Nation’s first Commercial Astronaut, after flying SpaceShipOne to above 100 km on June 21st 2004.

He has accumulated 7050 flight hours in 128 fixed-wing types, and 12 rotary wing types.

He is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.

He was awarded the IVAN C. KINCHELOE trophy in 1999 by the SETP for high altitude, developmental flight-testing of the model 281 Proteus aircraft. He was awarded his second IVAN C. KINCHELOE trophy in 2004 by the SETP for his work flight-testing SpaceShipOne.

He holds NINE World and National speed and altitude records in Rutan’s Catbird, Proteus and SpaceShipOne aircraft.

He has flown 10 FIRST flights of Burt Rutan’s aircraft designs, including Burt’s latest, the SpaceShipOne.

He built his own Variviggen and Long-EZ homebuilt aircraft.

He and Dick Rutan flew their Long-EZ’s around the world in 1997!

He has been a member of AOPA for 36 years.

He has been a member of the Experimental Aircraft Association for 32 years.

(updated May 2005)