Kelly Latimer

Kelly Latimer
Latimer in 2016
Alma mater	United States Air Force Academy George Washington University
Employer(s)	Virgin Galactic Virgin Orbit
Space career
Time in space	44 min, 21s
Missions	Galactic 02 , Galactic 04 , Galactic 05

Kelly Latimer is a combat veteran, retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel, and commercial spaceship pilot. She was the first female research pilot to join the NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center. She works with Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit, and was the latter's pilot in command for their first rocket launch in January 2021.^[1] Latimer flew the T-38, T-34, Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, Boeing C-17, 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy 747SP. On August 10, 2023 Latimer co-piloted VSS Unity along with Frederick W. Sturckow as commercial astronaut pilot of Virgin's Galactic 02.