USAF Pilot To Test Virgin's Private Spaceship

‘Coma’ headed to space

Former U.S. Air Force test pilot Keith Colmer will begin flight training shortly for tests of Richard Branson’s private spacecraft: WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo. Colmer was the choice out of more than 500 applicants. “We selected the best pilot for our vehicles,” said Virgin Galactic Chief Executive George T. Whitesides. “Unlike most spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo is actually flown to space. So the emphasis is on people who have tremendous pilot skills.”

Comer (whose nickname is “Coma”) served two combat tours in Iraq as an F-16 pilot and has logged over 5,000 hours in over 90 different aircraft.

Free enterprise and America’s finest. Can’t get much better.

Virgin expects to start commercial space flights within two years.