Yuri's Night is an international celebration held every April 12 to commemorate milestones in space exploration. It is named for the first human to launch into space,Yuri Gagarin,who flew the Vostok 1 spaceship on April 12,1961. In 2011,Yuri's Night was celebrated at over 567 events in 75 countries on seven continents. Yuri's Night is often called the "World Space Party". The launch of STS-1,the first Space Shuttle mission,is also honored,as it was launched 20 years to the day after Vostok 1,on April 12,1981.
The Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field is in Mojave,California,United States,at an elevation of 2,801 feet (854 m). 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 17,2004. The facility covers 2,998 acres and has three runways.
James Barney Pollack was an American astrophysicist who worked for NASA's Ames Research Center.
Virgin Galactic Holdings,Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California,and operates from New Mexico. The company develops commercial spacecraft and provides suborbital spaceflights to space tourists. Virgin Galactic's suborbital spacecraft are air launched from beneath a carrier airplane known as White Knight Two. Virgin Galactic's maiden spaceflight occurred in 2018 with its VSS Unity spaceship. Branson had originally hoped to see a maiden spaceflight by 2010,but the date was delayed,primarily due to the October 2014 crash of VSS Enterprise.
The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) was an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It was manufactured by The Spaceship Company,a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic.
Spaceport Sweden is a company that plans to make Kiruna the primary European Spaceport for personal suborbital spaceflight for space tourism,research,education,and a hub for cross-industry innovation. Spaceport Sweden is built by the Swedish Space Corporation.
VSS Unity,previously referred to as VSS Voyager,is a retired SpaceShipTwo-class suborbital rocket-powered crewed spaceplane. It was the second SpaceShipTwo to be built and was part of the Virgin Galactic fleet. It first reached space as defined by the United States on 13 December 2018,on the VP-03 mission.
Steve Isakowitz is the President and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation assuming the position on October 1,2016. The Aerospace Corporation is a leading architect for the nation's national security and civil space programs with more than 4,000 employees and annual revenues of $1.1 billion. Isakowitz is a recognized leader across the government,private,space,and technology sectors,having served in prominent roles at Virgin Galactic,the U.S. Department of Energy,NASA,and the White House Office of Management and Budget. He is the co-author of the AIAA International Reference Guide to Space Launch Systems,which received the Summerfield Book Award in 2003.
Wanda M. Austin is an American aerospace engineer. She is a former president and CEO of The Aerospace Corporation. She was both the first woman,and the first African-American,to hold this position. Austin also served as interim president for the University of Southern California,following the resignation of C. L. Max Nikias. She was both the first woman,and the first African-American,to hold this position.
LauncherOne was a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that had operational flights from 2021 to 2023,after being in development from 2007 to 2020. It was an air-launched rocket,designed to carry smallsat payloads of up to 300 kg (660 lb) into Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO),following air launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude. The rocket was carried to the upper atmosphere on a modified Boeing 747-400,named Cosmic Girl,and released over ocean. Initial work on the program was done by Virgin Galactic,another Virgin Group subsidiary,before a separate entity —Virgin Orbit —was formed in 2017 to complete development and operate the launch service provider business separately from the passenger-carrying Virgin Galactic business.
Firefly Aerospace is an American private aerospace firm based in Cedar Park,Texas,that develops small and Medium-lift launch vehicles for commercial launches to orbit. The current company was formed when the assets of the former company Firefly Space Systems were acquired by EOS Launcher in March 2017,which was then renamed Firefly Aerospace. Firefly's stated purpose is to increase access to space,similar to other private spaceflight companies.
The VSS Enterprise crash occurred on October 31,2014,when the VSS Enterprise,a SpaceShipTwo experimental spaceflight test vehicle operated by Virgin Galactic,suffered a catastrophic in-flight breakup during a test flight and crashed in the Mojave Desert near Cantil,California. Co-pilot Michael Alsbury was killed and pilot Peter Siebold was seriously injured.
Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides is an American public speaker,co-creator of Yuri's Night,and an author on space exploration. She accumulated over five hours of weightless time as a Flight Director for Zero-G Corporation,and plans to travel to space as a "Founder Astronaut" on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. She is married to George T. Whitesides,Congressman from California who was elected in 2024.
Stuart O. Witt is the Founder and Owner of S.O. Witt &Associates,LLC. Witt is the former CEO of Mojave Air and Space Port and a member of the National Space Council Users Advisory Group.
Kelly Latimer is a combat veteran,retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel,and commercial spaceship pilot. She was the first female research pilot to join the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. She works with Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit,and was the latter's pilot in command for their first rocket launch in January 2021. Latimer flew the T-38,T-34,Lockheed C-141 Starlifter,Boeing C-17,747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy 747SP. On August 10,2023 Latimer co-piloted VSS Unity along with Frederick W. Sturckow as commercial astronaut pilot of Virgin's Galactic 02.
VP-03 was a sub-orbital spaceflight of the SpaceShipTwo-class VSS Unity which took place on 13 December 2018,piloted by Mark P. Stucky and co-piloted by Frederick W. "CJ" Sturckow.
Beth Moses is chief space flight participant instructor and interiors program manager for Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo program,and a commercial astronaut,as classified by the Federal Aviation Administration. She was the first woman to make a spaceflight on a commercially launched vehicle,the VSS Unity VF-01 flight of 22 February 2019. She was also part of the six-member crew that flew in the first fully-crewed test flight to space on July 11,2021,aboard VSS Unity.
Michael Joseph Garcia is an American politician and former United States Navy pilot who served as the U.S. representative for California's 27th congressional district from 2020 to 2025. A Republican,he was first elected in a May 2020 special election and went on to win a full term in the general election.
