Alex Tai of Virgin Galactic Elected Chairman
The Personal Spaceflight Federation (PSF), comprised of private, public and non-profit organizations working to make commercial human spaceflight a reality, has announced new members, a new slate of officers, and a new Chairman as the PSF continues to bolster support for the burgeoning commercial human spaceflight industry.
PSF members include spaceship developers and operators, spaceports, space destinations, and space transportation agents. In the past six months, Bigelow Aerospace, SpaceDev, AirLaunch LLC, and New Mexico’s Spaceport America have joined up with existing members SpaceX, Scaled Composites, Space Adventures, Armadillo Aerospace, the X PRIZE Foundation, Rocketplane-Kistler, XCOR Aerospace, Transformational Space Corporation, Virgin Galactic, and the Mojave Spaceport to create an even more unified presence for the industry.
“The growing diversity of our membership is one of the true strengths of the Personal Spaceflight Federation,” explained Michael S. Kelly, President of the emerging organization. “For example, we have four of the six COTS finalists on board, which just goes to show how even companies in heated competition with one another are willing to work together to address common issues.”
Alex Tai, Senior Vice President and head of operations for Virgin Galactic and a board member of The Spaceship Company, was elected Chairman of the PSF along with a slate of new officers following the most recent meeting of the members, held in conjunction with the International Space Development Conference in Los Angeles earlier this year. Tai, who first began his career with Virgin as a commercial pilot for Virgin Atlantic, is also training to become the first commercial pilot for SpaceShipTwo, now in development.
The PSF made clear its intention to speak for the personal spaceflight industry on the critical issues that will emerge in the years ahead. “This new industry can now speak with a collective voice. We aim to fight for solid foundations in legislation and regulation, to confront together the issues that will be placed before us, and to facilitate the growth of a society with regular space travel for everyone,” explained Tai.
Additional officers include Vice-Chairman Jeff Greason, CEO of XCOR Aerospace; Treasurer Stuart O. “Stu” Witt, General Manager of the Mojave Spaceport; and Secretary George French, CEO of Rocketplane-Kistler. George French recently led the acquisition of Kistler Aerospace by suborbital spaceflight company Rocketplane Limited, Inc. Michael S. Kelly, recently retained as President of the Personal Spaceflight Federation, holds a distinguished record as the long-time chairman of the FAA Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) and more recently as the Vice President of Flight Operations for the X PRIZE Cup.
For more information on the Personal Spaceflight Federation please visit: www.personalspaceflight.org.
Contact:
Personal Spaceflight Federation (PSF) Ian Murphy, 310-689-6397 press@personalspaceflight.org
