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Virgin Galactic, the suborbital rocket company founded through Richard Branson in 2004, has hired a former Disney chief executive to function as a true “space mountain.”
Starting Monday, Michael Colglazier, now a former president and chief executive of Disney Parks International, will assume his new role as CEO of Virgin Galactic, according to a press sent to Business Insider on Wednesday. Colglazier also joins the board of directors of the publicly traded company.
In his new work, Colglazier will oversee the upcoming tourist activities of the Virgin Galactic area. For starters, you’ll earn an annual salary of $1 million, plus a functionality bonus of up to 150% of your salary, charity inventory features, and other benefits, based on a new 8-K filing with the SEC.
After 16 years of studies and development of area ships, Virgin Galactic focuses on inconsistent solutions and helps keep its promise of sending others to the area for $200,000 or more according to the seat. Colglazier’s pleasure makes those rides the luxury pleasure customers expect.
“I am very happy to sign up for the talented Virgin Galactic team at this turning point in the company’s journey,” Colglazier said in the statement. “Like many others, adding tons of registered customers, I was encouraged through this global-class goal-oriented logo and the opportunity to open an area to replace the global forever.”
George T. Whitesides, former ceo of Virgin Galactic since 2010, will leave his previous checkpoint and board. However, Whitesides, who arrived at Virgin Galactic after serving as NASA’s personnel leader, will leave the company. Instead, he’ll be your first Space Director.
In the newly created executive role, Whitesides will focus on “developing the company’s long-term business opportunities, adding peer-to-peer hypersonic and orbital areaArray,” the company said. These new avenues can become multimillion-dollar businesses, Whitesides said. He will also chair Virgin Galactic’s Space Advisory Committee.
Virgin Galactic enters a final phase of verification and regulatory approvals before starting to transport passengers, explaining the transition of the C-suite. The company has suffered many setbacks, adding a twist of fate that killed a control pilot, to achieve its purpose of governing civilian flights, which Branson predicted would begin more than a decade ago. Virgin Galactic plans to unveil the interior design of its suborbital rocket centerpiece, SpaceShipTwo, e late this month.
Colglazier said on a conference call Wednesday with investors that he had dreamed of having an astronaut as a child and would “fly” on SpaceShipTwo in the future.
In a recent interview, Whitesides said Virgin Galactic hoped to claim a fraction of the airline industry’s high-level long-distance business, totaling about $300 billion a year.
“If we can capture 5% or something like that, then it’s still a huge figure. I mean, between $10 billion and $15 billion in profit is a great opportunity,” Whitesides told Business Insider in May, adding that he thinks other people would pay. for faster in smaller vehicles. “The things we are working on are an integral component of our aviation future.”
The scope of these operations is very broad, as the Supersonic Concorde passenger jet retired in 2003. This does not mean that it will be simple or affordable to recover and expand it. But Whitesides believes Virgin Galactic is up to the challenge, even in the face of past clutter to create new supersonic and even hypersonic passenger vehicles.
“The words” of many corporations have tried “are music to my ears,” Whitesides said. “People said we couldn’t start a manned spaceflight company. People say we can’t go to the public.”
In one state, Branson congratulated the two on taking on the new roles:
“I need to thank George for his remarkable leadership at Virgin Galactic over the past decade. He demonstrated determination and determination as the company’s first CEO, from initial progression to area flight, the first from U.S. soil since the retreat of the space shuttle. the following year, George has indexed the company in the inventory exchange and transferred it to Spaceport America. He moves into his new position as space director, having created a really high price as CEO and with Galactic in a position for an exciting next chapter. “
“At the same time, we are very pleased to welcome Michael as the new General Manager to lead Galactic in commercial operations. I who Michael’s long and outstanding career at one of the world’s leading visitor attractions at the brands naturally fits with Virgin’s culture as well as Galactic’s needs as he prepares for advertising service.”
In Wednesday’s appeal, Chamath Palihapitiya, president of Virgin Galactic, said Colglazier’s skills and delight in creating multimillion-dollar businesses for consumers are precisely what the company wants to move forward as consumers and their families start Spaceport America in the deserts. New Mexico for exclusive delights.
In her statement, Palihapitiya also hinted that Virgin Galactic could see its first passenger flight, Branson’s own, before the end of 2020.
“[Colglazier will] frankly be an invaluable addition to our business, as we are now a few months away from advertising operations,” Palihapitiya said. “In fact, it will create an incredible delight for our long-term astronauts. Array… We’ve all talked about how we can create an incredible delight not only for astronauts, but also for everyone who comes to Spaceport America. I think Michael understands how to do this.”
This story has been updated with new information.