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Virgin Galactic Restructures Leadership for Commercial Spaceline Operations

The aerospace and space travel company, Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., recently announced a new leadership structure to strengthen the company's commercial spaceline operations. Before this revelation, Virgin Galactic had stated that commercial spaceline operations were on track for the second quarter of 2023.

The enhancements in the leadership structure will help Virgin Galactic's core near-team objectives deliver improved flight frequencies and develop a rapid fleet plan. As part of this leadership structure update, Swami Iyer, President of Aerospace Systems, vacated his position on January 12, 2023. However, to ensure a smooth transition, he will be serving as an Advisor to the company's CEO until March 2023.

The new face of the leadership team of Virgin Galactic's spaceline operations is being led by industry professionals, which include:

Mike Moses, President of Spaceline Missions and Safety. After seventeen years at NASA, he oversaw space shuttle launch operations until 2011.
Mike Moore, Executive Vice President of Spaceline Technical Operations. He spearheaded Virgin Galactic's flight and mission operations. He joined the company in 2022 after a successful Delta Airlines SVP Technical Operations career.
Steve Justice has been appointed Senior Vice President of Spaceline Programs and Engineering. He designed, engineered, and managed the development of Virgin Galactic's spaceflight system and fleet. He spent 39 years as a veteran with Lockheed Martin, where he was a 'legend' in the Skunk Works division.

Meanwhile, VMS Eve, a mothership carrier for Virgin Galactic, has been upgraded according to the plans. The mothership is likely to go for ground tests in the coming weeks before starting flight tests to verify the ship's enhancements.
Michael Colglazier, CEO of Virgin Galactic, said, "With the completion of the enhancement program for our mothership at hand, our streamlined leadership structure will help propel the business forward as we prepare for commercial spaceline operations. Swami has been instrumental in establishing our future production strategy and in leading the work to prepare our initial ships for commercial flight, and we are incredibly grateful for his contribution." He added, "Our experienced leadership team brings deep expertise to the next exciting phase for the company flying our customers safely and regularly to space and expanding our future fleet."

(Source: Virgin Galactic)

About Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic ,headquartered in Tustin (California), is a pioneer in the aerospace and space travel industries, providing private citizens and scientists with access to space in state-of-the-art aircraft. In addition, the company is working on a space travel system to share the amazement and excitement of space exploration with the globe and provide life-changing adventures for its customers.

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