Helmsdale man at helm of Virgin Galactic's landmark space flight test
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A Highland test pilot flew billionaire Sir Richard Branson to the edge of space in a momentous flight on Sunday.
Helmsdale native Dave Mackay (63), a former RAF pilot, joined Sir Richard's commercial space tourism company Virgin Galactic in 2009.
The landmark test mission on July 11 was the company's first fully crewed flight and took off from the runway at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
On board the VSS Unity were Mr Mackay and another pilot along with four "mission specialists" including astronaut 001 – Richard Branson.
It was the 22nd flight test for VSS Unity and the company’s fourth crewed space flight.
A "mother ship" carried VSS Unity to an altitude of 46,000 feet where it was released and propelled into the upper atmosphere by its own rocket engines.
The aim of Sunday's flight was to focus on "cabin and customer experience objectives".
Afterwards, Sir Richard said: "I have dreamt about this moment since I was a child, but nothing could have prepared me for the view of Earth from space. We are at the vanguard of a new space age."
Pilot Dave Mackay returned to Helmsdale in 2019 with a special gift – a stone picked from local remains of the Clearances that he took into space. It now has pride of place in a display at Helmsdale's Timespan museum.
He said at the time: "I feel Helmsdale shaped me in many ways. There was much help along the way, many significant people and significant places and this is definitely one of those significant places."
