Who founded Virgin Galactic, the private spaceflight company that operates SpaceShipTwo?

Richard Branson founded Virgin Galactic, the private spaceflight company associated with SpaceShipTwo.

Branson established Virgin Galactic in 2004 after the success of SpaceShipOne, which won the Ansari X Prize. The company aimed to offer suborbital spaceflights for private passengers using a reusable spaceplane carried aloft by a larger carrier aircraft.

Virgin Galactic’s operational system uses the VMS Eve carrier aircraft and a SpaceShipTwo vehicle. The spaceplane is released at high altitude, ignites its rocket motor, climbs above the internationally recognized 100-kilometre space boundary, and then glides back to a runway.

Branson is sometimes confused with Virgin Galactic pilots, who command individual flights. He is the company’s founder, not the pilot of its first commercial spaceflight.