Nationality American Other occupation Test pilot Role Test pilot | Name Michael Alsbury Missions None | |
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Status Killed during training mission Died October 31, 2014, Mojave Desert, California, United States Spouse Michelle Saling (m. ?–2014) | ||
Dan Biezad speaks about Michael Alsbury
Michael Tyner Alsbury (March 19, 1975 – 31 October 2014) was an American test pilot for Scaled Composites. He was killed on 31 October 2014 during test flight PF04 of the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise.
Contents
- Dan Biezad speaks about Michael Alsbury
- Personal life
- Career
- SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise crash
- References
Personal life
Alsbury had been a flying enthusiast since childhood. He graduated from California Polytechnic State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering. Alsbury had been married to Michelle Saling for 12 years and had two children, aged 7 and 10 at the time of his death.
Career
Alsbury joined Scaled Composites in 2001 and began working as a project engineer and pilot.
In April 2013, he served as copilot to Mark Stucky on the first powered flight for VSS Enterprise and SpaceShipTwo.
In 2013, he received the Ray E. Tenhoff Award for the most outstanding technical paper at the Society of Experimental Test Pilots symposium along with Mark Stucky and Clint Nichols.
At the time of his death, he had 1800 flight hours, 1600 of them as a test pilot and engineer with Scaled Composites. In 2013, he was the co-recipient of the Ray E. Tenhoff Award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
SpaceShipTwo VSS Enterprise crash
On 31 October 2014 Alsbury was test flying the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise with Peter Siebold. The craft broke up in-flight, resulting in a total loss of VSS Enterprise, which crashed in the California Mojave Desert. Alsbury was unable to exit the spacecraft, and his remains were found still strapped to his seat in the fuselage. The pilot, Peter Siebold survived. It was the ninth time that Alsbury had flown aboard the aircraft.
On 4 November 2014, Episode 5 of BBC One's Human Universe, presented by Brian Cox, was dedicated to Alsbury, as it had a sequence on Virgin Galactic test pilot David Mackay.