The Dreamers and Innovators: Kelly Latimer from Virgin Orbit

I’ve always admired the ‘dreamers’ who are also the ‘doers’ of the world. It’s easy to come up with ideas, but it’s much harder to put them in to action. Growing up alongside Virgin and with Dad at the helm, I was surrounded by people who made things happen on a daily basis. The spirit of innovation has never died, and the last decade has included some of the most exciting moments in Virgin’s history. As the innovation continues, I want to shine a light on some of dreamers and innovators within the Virgin Family - and those we invest in - who are out there bringing the future to our doorsteps, and making the world a little bit better while they’re at it.

To kick off the series, I was over the moon to speak with Kelly Latimer - Chief Test Pilot at Virgin Orbit and soon to be one of the first commercial spaceship pilots at Virgin Galactic. In her career, Kelly went from being a jet instructor on a supersonic trainer aircraft, to the first woman research test pilot hired by NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. She also served in both Afghanistan and Iraq and worked as a test pilot for Boeing. In 2014, Kelly joined Virgin Galactic as a test pilot, and has also been a part of the Virgin Orbit story from the outset of LauncherOne’s development – recently making history as co-pilot for their recent space mission, which saw the Virgin Orbit rocket reach space for the first time. I was watching it live and it was a truly incredible moment in history. Throughout her career, Kelly has never given up on her dream of becoming an astronaut and will eventually fly Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo to space - earning her commercial astronaut wings while she’s at it!

Here's our full conversation, I hope you enjoy it.