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Michael Masucci
Michael Masucci
Michael Masucci
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Michael "Sooch" Masucci (born 1963) is a test pilot for Virgin Galactic and a commercial astronaut.[1][2] He is a former U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and Lockheed U-2 test pilot.[3][4]

Key Information

Early life and education

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Masucci was born in 1963 to an Italian-American family and grew up in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, north of Philadelphia.[5] He attended La Salle College High School, a Catholic all-boys preparatory school in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania.[6]

As an adolescent, Masucci was inspired by the Apollo program and followed the development of Skylab, the first American space station, and the Space Shuttle program closely. He applied to MIT and the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), the only two undergraduate institutions offering degrees in astronautical engineering.

He graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1985 with a bachelor's degree in astronautical engineering.[7] He began flying in 1982 and earned a private pilot license through the USAFA Aero Club, where he joined the flying team and participated in the gliding and parachuting programs. He later earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the California State University, Fresno.

Career

[edit]

After commissioning into the U.S. Air Force, Masucci attended pilot training at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma, where he flew the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon under call sign "Sooch". He was a Northrop T-38 Talon instructor for several years before moving to Beale Air Force Base in California to pilot the high-altitude Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft. Masucci became an instructor and evaluator for the U-2 program.[8]

He later joined Edwards Air Force Base as a test pilot before teaching at the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School. As a lieutenant colonel, he led the 1st Reconnaissance Squadron, the oldest flying unit in the U.S. military, and trained U-2 and Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk pilots in conducting high-altitude reconnaissance missions.

After retiring from the Air Force in 2008, Masucci became a private pilot captain flying the Cessna Citation X for XOJET on charter flights.

In May 2013, Masucci joined Virgin Galactic as a test pilot and lead pilot trainer for SpaceShipTwo.[9] He performed five test flights of VSS Enterprise and VSS Unity beginning in 2013 and first flew to space during the VSS Unity VF-01 mission on February 22, 2019. Masucci became the 6th commercial astronaut and 570th person in space.[10]

He has since piloted 5 crewed Sub-orbital spaceflight missions, including Unity 22, Unity 25, Galactic 01, Galactic 03, and Galactic 05.[11][12] In total, he has flown 11,000+ hours in 80 types of aircraft and gliders.[13] He is an associate fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots (SETP) and a member of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA).

Awards

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Test flights

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References

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Michael Masucci

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Michael "Sooch" Masucci is an American and who serves as a pilot for Virgin Galactic's program. A retired U.S. , Masucci accumulated over 9,000 flight hours across more than 70 aircraft types during his military career, including combat and test operations. He attended the U.S. Academy, where he began flight training, and later graduated from School before serving as a U-2 test pilot, contributing to upgrades such as the aircraft's and enhanced power systems. Prior to joining in 2013, Masucci flew the Citation X for XOJET Inc., a private jet operator. With the company, he has piloted numerous suborbital missions, including commanding flights like Galactic 05 and supporting research payloads for agencies such as Italy's body. His aviation expertise earned him the 2024 J.H. Doolittle Award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, recognizing contributions to .

Early Life and Education

Formative Years and Military Preparation

Michael Masucci was born on January 1, 1960. He grew up in , a suburb north of . Masucci completed his secondary education at in , graduating in the class of 1981. The Catholic all-boys preparatory school emphasized a rigorous academic curriculum, including and sciences, which aligned with pathways to military service. In 1981, Masucci gained acceptance to the in , entering as part of the class that would graduate in 1985. While at the Academy, he pursued coursework preparing him for roles and took private flying lessons, earning his private pilot's license through civilian instruction. This early flight training, conducted alongside his military education, provided foundational experience in aircraft handling and prior to formal pilot training.

Military Career

Air Force Service and Flight Training

Masucci entered the U.S. through the , from which he graduated in 1981 and was commissioned as a . While at the Academy, he pursued private flying lessons to build foundational aviation skills. Following commissioning, Masucci completed undergraduate pilot training and was recognized as a distinguished graduate in 1986, qualifying him for advanced operational roles. His early assignments involved flying fighter aircraft such as the F-16, where he accumulated flight hours in high-performance military jets, emphasizing precision handling and tactical maneuvers essential for combat readiness. After approximately three years in operational flying, Masucci's performance led to his selection for the U.S. Test Pilot School, a competitive program focused on experimental flight techniques, , and safety protocols under extreme conditions. This training built on his initial service by integrating empirical testing methodologies with real-world mission demands, preparing pilots for evaluating aircraft limits through structured sorties and simulations. During his broader tenure, he logged thousands of hours across multiple aircraft types, including instructional duties in the T-38 and gliders, which honed his versatility and risk assessment capabilities.

U-2 Test Piloting and Advanced Roles

Masucci advanced to the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School, graduating in 1993, after which he transitioned into U-2 operations as a test and combat pilot. In this role, he conducted high-altitude reconnaissance missions, operating the U-2 at altitudes exceeding 70,000 feet where pilots must wear full-pressure suits to counter hypoxia and extreme cold, demanding precise management of aircraft stability amid thin air and long-duration flights often spanning over 10 hours. These missions supported intelligence gathering, including during major operations such as Operation Desert Storm, where Masucci flew imaging sorties to assess environmental impacts like Iraqi oil spills in the Persian Gulf. As a U-2 , Masucci contributed to critical upgrades enhancing the aircraft's capabilities for modern . He played a key role in developing and evaluating the avionics, replacing analog instruments with multifunction digital displays for improved and reduced pilot workload during extended high-altitude profiles. Additionally, he tested power upgrade programs, integrating enhanced engine performance to extend range and payload capacity while mitigating risks from single-engine operations in unforgiving stratospheric conditions. These efforts exemplified empirical approaches, validating modifications through iterative to ensure reliability in combat theaters. Masucci's operational and test flights bolstered U.S. defense , accumulating expertise in for edge-of-envelope performance. Over his career, he logged more than 9,000 hours across diverse , attaining the rank of while prioritizing causal factors like aerodynamic limits and sensor integration for mission success. His work underscored the U-2's value in persistent , bridging analog-era designs with digital enhancements amid geopolitical demands.

Transition to Commercial Space

Recruitment by Virgin Galactic

In May 2013, Virgin Galactic recruited Michael Masucci, a retired U.S. lieutenant colonel with extensive test piloting experience, to join its commercial astronaut pilot team for the program. The announcement, made on May 7, highlighted Masucci's selection alongside former shuttle commander Frederick "CJ" Sturckow, emphasizing his qualifications from over 30 years of military and civilian flying, including U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance missions and recent service as a Citation X captain at XOJET Inc. This hiring addressed the demand for proven expertise in handling experimental aircraft under demanding conditions, as advanced toward suborbital point-to-point travel, payload research, and tourism operations from its base. Masucci's transition from military aviation and private jet operations to commercial space reflected the emerging sector's need for pilots skilled in risk-managed testing outside rigid government frameworks, enabling faster iteration on reusable suborbital vehicles. Assigned to training and pre-commercial flight testing, he adapted military-honed protocols to private enterprise standards, focusing on carrier aircraft operations and spacecraft release maneuvers without prior suborbital exposure. The recruitment underscored causal drivers like the scarcity of high-altitude test pilots willing to embrace the unproven commercial model's higher personal risk for innovation-driven rewards, distinct from subsidized public programs.

Role at Virgin Galactic

Test Piloting and Pre-Flight Contributions

Masucci, under the callsign "Sooch," contributed to 's () test campaigns through piloting roles in glide and powered flights, focusing on empirical validation of carrier aircraft integration, aerodynamic controls, and systems prior to suborbital operations. These efforts emphasized rigorous data collection to resolve engineering challenges, such as ensuring stability during transitions and reentry deployment, without undue emphasis on operational hazards. On May 2, 2017, Masucci co-piloted a glide flight with Mark Stucky, during which they tested the feather system—a pivoting tail mechanism critical for passive stability and controlled descent—confirming its functionality in unpowered atmospheric conditions released from VMS Eve at approximately 45,000 feet. This flight provided baseline handling data, addressing causal factors in reentry derived from prior vehicle iterations. The January 12, 2018, glide flight marked VSS Unity's atmospheric debut, with Masucci and Stucky executing a safe separation from VMS Eve, low-speed glide maneuvers, and landing, yielding initial metrics on structural integrity and control surface responsiveness under real-world loads. These tests integrated carrier aircraft drop dynamics, validating release precision to minimize off-nominal trajectories. In the July 26, 2018, third powered flight, Masucci served as co-pilot to , igniting the hybrid rocket motor to reach Mach 2.47 and an apogee of 32.3 miles (52 km), while evaluating efficiency and high-dynamic-pressure stability—key hurdles in scaling from glide to full-envelope . Data from this 60-second burn informed iterative fixes to thermal and vibrational stresses, prioritizing verifiable performance over speculative timelines. Masucci's pre-2019 flights amassed flight hours and essential for regulatory approval, with over a unpowered and powered sorties contributing to the empirical foundation for subsequent vehicle maturation, distinct from later crewed missions.

Spaceflights

Key Suborbital Missions

Masucci's debut suborbital flight occurred on February 22, 2019, aboard VSS Unity during mission VF-01, where he served as co-pilot under commander David Mackay, with Beth Moses as the sole passenger evaluating cabin conditions. Released from the VMS Eve carrier aircraft at approximately 15,000 meters, Unity ignited its hybrid rocket motor, accelerating to Mach 3.0 and reaching an apogee of 89.9 kilometers—surpassing the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale's 100-kilometer Karman line by a margin while meeting the U.S. Air Force's 80-kilometer criterion for wings. The 15-minute flight concluded with a safe glide landing at , marking Virgin Galactic's first crewed suborbital success and qualifying Masucci as a without government funding. On July 11, 2021, Masucci returned to space as pilot for Unity 22, again paired with commander David Mackay, ferrying four passengers including founder , chief instructor Beth Moses, lead engineer Colin Bennett, and vice president . The mission achieved an apogee of 86.2 kilometers after a 60-second burn, with a top speed of Mach 2.88 and a total duration of 14 minutes and 17 seconds from release to landing, validating the vehicle's capacity for high-profile payloads under nominal conditions. This flight demonstrated repeatable access to microgravity, with passengers experiencing about four minutes of , and reinforced empirical data on thermal protection and reentry stability from prior tests. Masucci commanded Unity 25 on May 25, 2023, with CJ Sturckow as pilot and two passengers aboard, resuming operations after a regulatory pause for safety enhancements. The suborbital profile mirrored predecessors, attaining an apogee above 80 kilometers with a burn duration of roughly 60 seconds, emphasizing post-maintenance verification of avionics and hybrid propulsion reliability—no anomalies were reported, contributing to Virgin Galactic's zero-loss safety record across flights. Subsequent missions that year included Galactic 01 on June 29, 2023, where Masucci co-piloted with Nicola Pecile for an Italian Air Force research payload, reaching 85.1 kilometers and carrying experiments in microgravity biology and human physiology. He also flew as pilot on Galactic 03 in August and commander on Galactic 05 in November, both achieving similar apogees and durations while integrating iterative improvements in turnaround time and payload integration. By late 2023, Masucci had accumulated at least 12 suborbital flights, primarily validating reusability metrics such as rapid vehicle inspections and minimal refurbishment between sorties, with consistent apogees between 85-90 kilometers, burn times of , and microgravity phases exceeding three minutes per mission. These parameters underscore causal factors in operational tempo, including hybrid motor thrift and air-launch efficiency, without compromising structural integrity or crew safety across the dataset.

Achievements and Impact

Recognition in Aviation and Space

Masucci received Commercial Astronaut Wings from the in April 2019, honoring his piloting during Virgin Galactic's second on February 22, 2019, which reached altitudes above 50 miles (80 km). This recognition, part of the FAA's program for commercial participants prior to its 2021 discontinuation, underscored his role in validating reusable suborbital vehicles capable of routine operations. In public discussions, including a November 2024 appearance on the Ready for Takeoff podcast, Masucci described the operational efficiencies of Virgin Galactic's dual-aircraft system, noting identical cockpit interfaces between the WhiteKnightTwo carrier and vehicle that enabled pilots to transition seamlessly during flights exceeding Mach 3. He emphasized the empirical advantages of private-sector development, drawing from his prior U.S. experience with high-altitude to highlight how commercial programs achieve and iteration without the protracted timelines typical of government-funded efforts, which often exceed budgets by orders of magnitude—NASA's , for instance, cost over $200 billion across 135 missions. Masucci's command of subsequent missions facilitated Virgin Galactic's shift to revenue-generating operations, including the carriage of research payloads—such as those measuring radiation exposure at doses around 7.46 μSv per 1.22-hour flight—and initial paying passengers, with the company pre-selling approximately 700 seats for suborbital trips at $450,000 each. These outcomes demonstrate private ventures' capacity to lower barriers to access for non-astronaut researchers and civilians, contrasting with state models' emphasis on national prestige over scalable, cost-effective reusability, where per-mission expenses historically limited participation to select or agency personnel.

References

  1. https://www.spacenews.com/virgin-galactic-adds-two-pilots-to-commercial-flight-team/
  2. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/22/virgin-galactic-astronauts-describe-surreal-spaceflight.html
  3. https://www.readyfortakeoffpodcast.com/podcastepisodes/rft-346-virgin-galactic-astronaut-mike-masucci
  4. https://www.space.com/21130-virgin-galactic-hires-nasa-astronaut.html
  5. https://www.aero-news.net/index.cfm?do=main.ajTextPost&id=35f28c01-b7e2-45e9-b96e-1dfc8f3ee4f5
  6. https://go4liftoff.com/astronaut/michael-masucci
  7. https://press.virgingalactic.com/virgin-galactic-completes-11th-successful-spaceflight
  8. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/virgin-galactic_a-toast-is-in-ordercongratsto-virgin-galactic-activity-7251634737427947520-FS1I
  9. https://issuu.com/lschs/docs/1981_merged_300dpi_ocr/80
  10. https://www.lschs.org/uploaded/news-events/explorer/explorer_fall_2009.pdf
  11. https://www.usafa.edu/podcast/friday-july-11th/
  12. https://blog.roversnorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Rovers-Magazine-Summer-2014-web.pdf
  13. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/05/from-shuttle-ss2-sturckow-joins-virgin-galactic/
  14. https://spacenews.com/virgin-galactic-adds-two-pilots-to-commercial-flight-team/
  15. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2021/07/virgin-galactic-fly-founder-branson/
  16. https://www.key.aero/article/desert-storm-30-u-2s-olympic-flare-missions
  17. https://avweb.com/news/virgin-galactic-has-hired-its-pilots/
  18. https://www.theverge.com/2013/5/8/4311840/virgin-galactic-hires-former-nasa-and-military-pilots
  19. https://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1305/07sturckow/
  20. https://www.virgingalactic.com/news/update-from-mojave-vss-unity-successfully-completes-high-speed-glide-flight
  21. https://spacenews.com/spaceshiptwo-tests-feather-system-on-latest-glide-flight/
  22. https://spacenews.com/spaceshiptwo-performs-glide-flight-in-advance-of-powered-tests/
  23. https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/07/vss-unity-third-powered-flight-mach-2/
  24. https://spacenews.com/virgin-galactics-spaceshiptwo-takes-a-step-closer-to-space/
  25. https://weebau.com/rockwing/unity_vf01.htm
  26. https://press.virgingalactic.com/virgin-galactic-completes-inaugural-commercial-spaceflight
  27. https://www.space.com/virgin-galactic-unity-22-branson-flight-success
  28. https://www.virgin.com/about-virgin/latest/virgin-galactic-completes-unity-25-space-flight
  29. https://spacelaunchnow.me/astronaut/michael-masucci
  30. https://www.spacelaunchschedule.com/astronaut/michael-masucci/
  31. https://spacenews.com/three-virgin-galactic-crew-presented-with-commercial-astronaut-wings-at-35th-national-space-symposium/
  32. https://www.autoevolution.com/news/virgin-galactic-astronaut-becomes-first-woman-to-get-commercial-astronaut-wings-133661.html
  33. https://spacenews.com/faa-to-end-commercial-astronaut-wings-program/
  34. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214552424000877
  35. https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/IF11351.html
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