Virgin Galactic names crew for return to space in late May

Virgin Galactic has named the mission specialists who will take part in the upcoming Unity 25 mission. Unity 25 is the final assessment of the full spaceflight system and astronaut experience ahead of the first commercial flight, ‘Galactic 01’, planned for late June.

Beth Moses is the veteran space traveller of the Unity 25 cabin crew. As Virgin Galactic’s Chief Astronaut Instructor, this is Beth’s third flight to space. In 2019, she became the first woman to fly aboard a commercial space vehicle. It was after that mission that Beth was awarded her commercial astronaut wings by the FAA.

Before joining Virgin Galactic in 2013, Beth served as the Extravehicular System Manager for the International Space Station at NASA. She holds a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering from Purdue University. And on top of all that, no one at Virgin Galactic more thoughtfully shares the transformative power of experiencing the majesty of our planet from space than Beth.

Christopher Huie, known to his teammates as “Chuie”, is an Aerospace Engineer and Senior Manager on Virgin Galactic’s Flight Sciences Engineering team. In the six years he has been with the company leading the External Loads Engineering discipline, Chuie’s thoughtful approach to both his work and to those he works with has set him apart as a leader at Galactic. 

The University of Maryland Clark School of Engineering graduate is intimately familiar with VSS Unity and VMS Eve having worked on nearly every component of the spaceship’s and mothership’s designs, helping to ensure both structural integrity and mission success. He is the co-founder of and spokesperson for Virgin Galactic’s Black Leadership in Aerospace Scholarship and Training (BLAST) Program, mentoring college students with the aim of increasing the number of Black leaders in the aerospace industry.  Chuie, who hails from Florida, is the son of Jamaican immigrants and will become only the 19th Black astronaut in the world.

Jamila joined Virgin Galactic in 2019 where she has been an integral part of our team, leading internal communications. Jamila proudly hails from the Land of Enchantment and borderlands, just an hour’s drive from where she will fly to Space at The Gateway to Space at Spaceport America, New Mexico. 

Jamila attended New Mexico State University, studying linguistics, museum conservation, anthropology, and studio art. As a Latina woman of Purépechan-Mexican roots, a visual artist, and a communications professional who speaks four languages, Jamila will bring a different perspective from the pilots and engineers who have flown before her. 

Like many of our customers, Jamila doesn’t come from a technical or engineering background, making her well-placed to evaluate our customer readiness program. Jamila will become the third Virgin Galactic woman to fly to space, joining the first 100 women astronauts in history.

Luke Mays joined Virgin Galactic in March of this year as our newest Astronaut Instructor. Luke comes to Galactic from NASA where he spent several years training astronauts with a focus on creating repeatable, scalable training programs. 

In addition, Luke is skilled in working with international and multi-cultural astronaut candidates, making him well-suited for Galactic’s worldwide customer base. In his 25 years in aerospace, Luke has developed a training style that focuses on cultivating personal and professional growth.

For all of his experience training future astronauts for space missions, this mission, all of Virgin Galactic’s Astronaut Instructors will have flown to space giving the entire team the invaluable experience needed to prepare our Future Astronauts and researchers.

Images Virgin Galactic