Melvill

Michael Winston "Mike"

USA

International order nº: 441

US astr. nº: 280

Personal data:

Birth date:	30 Nov 1940
Birthplace:	Johannesburg, South Africa
Marital status:	married
Children:	two
Grade / Fonction:
Selection date:	?
Selection group:	-
Job:	Test Pilot
Status:	Retired 10/2007

Suborbital Spaceflights (above 100 km):

No	Spacecraft	Date and time of launch (UTC)	Status while launch	Date and time of landing (UTC)	Max. Altitude	Max.Speed	Duration
1	SpaceShipOne Fl.15P	21 June 2004 14:50 UTC	Pilot	21 June 2004 15:14 UTC	100,124 km	Mach 2.9	24 min 05s
2	SpaceShipOne Fl.16P	29 Sep 2004 15:09 UTC	Pilot	29 Sep 2004 15:34 UTC	102,93 km	Mach 2.92	24 min 11s
Total duration:							48m 16s

Suborbital Spaceflights (< 100 km):

No	Spacecraft	Date and time of launch (UTC)	Status while launch	Date and time of landing (UTC)	Max. Altitude	Max.Speed	Duration
1	SpaceShipOne Fl. 02C	29 June 2003	Pilot	29 June 2003	14 km	-	2h 06 min
2	SpaceShipOne Fl. 03G	07 Aug 2003	Pilot	07 Aug 2003	14,33 km	278 km/h	19 min 00s
3	SpaceShipOne Fl. 04GC	27 Aug 2003	Pilot	27 Aug 2003	14 km	370 km/h	1 h 06 min
4	SpaceShipOne Fl. 05G	27 Aug 2003	Pilot	27 Aug 2003	14,69 km	370 km/h	10 min 30s
5	SpaceShipOne Fl. 06G	23 Sep 2003	Pilot	23 Sep 2003	14,26 km	213 km/h	12 min 15s
6	SpaceShipOne Fl. 07G	17 Oct 2003	Pilot	17 Oct 2003	14,08 km	241 km/h	17 min 49s
7	SpaceShipOne Fl. 09G	19 Nov 2003	Pilot	19 Nov 2003	14,72 km	213 km/h	12 min 25s
8	SpaceShipOne Fl. 14P	13 May 2004	Pilot	13 May 2004	64.43 km	Mach 2.5	20 min 44s
Total duration:							4 h 33 min 43s

Additional information:

Michael Winston "Mike" Melvill (born November 30, 1940 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a world-record-breaking pilot and one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites.
Melvill was raised in Durban, S.Af., and attended but did not graduate from Hilton College, a private boarding high school in Hilton. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1967, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1972.
In 1978, Melvill met aerospace designer and Scaled Composites founder Burt Rutan when he flew to California to show Rutan the VariViggen he had built at his home. Rutan then hired him on the spot. In 1982, he was named Rutan′s lead test pilot.
In 1997, Melvill and Dick Rutan, Burt′s brother, flew two Long-Eze aircraft that they built side-by-side around the world. This "around the world in 80 nights" flight was called The Spirit of EAA Friendship World Tour, and some legs of it lasted for over 14 hours.
Employed by Rutan′s company, Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif., from its inception in 1982, he served as the company′s lead test pilot and later as its vice president and general manager.
Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne on its first flight past the edge of space, flight 15P on June 21, 2004, thus becoming the first commercial astronaut and the 441th person to go into space. He was also the pilot on SpaceShipOne′s flight 16P, the first competitive flight in the Ansari X Prize competition.
Later in his career he became Vice President/General Manager at Scaled Composites.
He holds nine aviation world records in speed and altitude.

Melville (right) and Burt Rutan (left) in front of SpaceShipOne Flight 15P after landing.

Melvill receiving wings as the first commercial astronaut in history.

Ref.: #16, #98 - update: 03.08.20

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