Space Commerce

Job Openings at Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company

By Keith Cowing

April 30, 2012

Filed under The Spaceship Company, Virgin Galactic

Job Openings at Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company

Virgin Galactic is currently accepting applications for the following six positions: operations engineer, seat mechanism designer, design engineer, IT manager, regulatory compliance manager and embedded systems software developer. In addition, the company’s space systems development division seeks a mechanical designer, mechanical lead, guidance/navigation/control (GNC) lead and chief engineer.
The majority of these positions are based in Pasadena and Mojave, Calif. A few others are located in Las Cruces, N.M., at Spaceport America, Virgin Galactic’s future headquarters.

The Spaceship Company, which is building the world’s first fleet of commercial spaceships and carrier aircraft for Virgin Galactic, has eight open positions at its Mojave, Calif., location. These include: aircraft mechanical systems engineer, senior integration engineer/WhiteKnightTwo, engineering manager/aircraft systems, composite stress analyst engineer, pneumatic & hydraulic engineer, structural test engineer, structural design engineer, and computer numerical control machine operator and programmer.

“Through both companies, we offer people to be a part of something that has never been done before – building and operating the world’s first commercial spaceline,” said George Whitesides, president and CEO of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company. “This requires passionate people with inventive minds dedicated to opening space up to all. We look forward to offering qualified professionals the opportunity to join us on the ground floor as we carry out this bold and exciting mission.”

Interested applicants should visit the careers section of both companies’ websites – Virgin Galactic careers and The Spaceship Company careers – to learn more and submit applications. New positions are always on the horizon, with both sites regularly updated with additional information.

About Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic, owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Aabar Investments PJS, is on track to be the world’s first commercial spaceline. The new spaceship (SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise) and carrier craft (WhiteKnightTwo, VMS Eve) have both been developed for Virgin Galactic by Mojave-based Scaled Composites. Founded by Burt Rutan, Scaled developed SpaceShipOne, which in 2004 claimed the $10m Ansari X Prize as the world’s first privately developed manned spacecraft. Virgin Galactic’s new vehicles share much of the same basic design, but are being built to carry six customers, or the equivalent scientific research payload, on sub-orbital space flights, allowing an out-of-the-seat, zero-gravity experience and offering astounding views of the planet from the black sky of space for tourist astronauts and a unique microgravity platform for researchers. The VSS Enterprise and VMS Eve test flight program is well under way, leading to Virgin Galactic commercial operations, which will be based at Spaceport America in New Mexico.

About The Spaceship Company

Headquartered at Mojave Air and Space Port, The Spaceship Company is the aerospace production company, founded by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites, which is building the world’s first fleet of commercial spaceships (SpaceShipTwos) and carrier aircraft (WhiteKnightTwos) intended to make regular, commercial, manned space travel a reality.