Brian Binnie
William Brian Binnie (* 1953 in West Lafayette , Indiana , USA ) is an American test pilot and suborbital space traveler .
Brian was born in Indiana but grew up in Scotland , where his father taught physics at the University of Aberdeen . As a teenager he returned to the USA. He went to high school in Lexington ( Massachusetts ) and then studied at Brown University in Rhode Island . In 1975 he received a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and a master's degree in fluid physics the following year . The Princeton University awarded him later another master's degree in aeronautical engineering.
After completing his studies, he joined the US Navy and was a test pilot for the F / A-18 aircraft for 20 years . In 1988 he graduated from the Navy Test Pilot School in Maryland . He flew 33 combat missions in the Second Gulf War and has since retired from the US Navy.
In 1999, Binnie was a test pilot for an atmospheric prototype of the Roton spacecraft (a combination of helicopter and rocket) developed by the Rotary Rockets company. After the Roton program was discontinued, he switched to Scaled Composites.
SpaceShipOne was developed by Scaled Composites. On December 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight, Binnie was one of four qualified pilots - alongside Binnie Michael Melvill , Peter Siebold and Douglas Shane - who piloted the first powered test flight for the experimental rocket aircraft called the 11P. He reached a speed of Mach 1.2 and a height of 20.7 kilometers.
On October 4, 2004, Binnie was the pilot of the second prize flight to win the Ansari X-Prize , where he clearly exceeded the 100-kilometer mark with 112 kilometers and is thus counted as an astronaut . He won the Ansari X Prize prize money of 10 million US dollars for Scaled Composites.
For testing the SpaceShipOne, he and his colleagues Mike Melvill and Peter Siebold received the 2004 Iven C. Kincheloe Award for outstanding performance in flight tests.
In April 2014, Binnie switched from Scaled Composites to competitor XCOR Aerospace .
Binnie and his wife (nicknamed "Bub") have two grown sons and daughter Jennifer.
Web links
- Short biography of Brian Binnie at spacefacts.de
- Biography of Brian Binnie in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)
- Brian Binnie biography at Scaled Composites
Individual evidence
- ^ Iven C. Kincheloe Award - List of Past Recipients
- ↑ Irene Klotz: Spaceship Pilot Joins Rival Firm. Space News, April 3, 2014, accessed April 4, 2014 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Binnie, Brian |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Binnie, William Brian (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American test pilot |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | West Lafayette , Indiana , USA |