Kelly Latimer
Kelly Latimer is a retired United States Air Force lieutenant colonel, combat veteran, NASA Armstrong research pilot, Virgin Galactic pilot, and commercial astronaut. Her career is unusually broad even by test-pilot standards, spanning military airlift and fighter-type aircraft, NASA research flying, Virgin Orbit launch operations, and repeated suborbital SpaceShipTwo flights.
- Born
- N/A
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- United States
Flights
3
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
44 minutes, 21 seconds
Bio
Latimer graduated from the United States Air Force Academy with astronautical engineering training and later earned a master's degree in astronautics from George Washington University. In the Air Force she flew operational missions, commanded test activity, and accumulated deep experience across transport, trainer, and high-performance aircraft.
She became the first woman research test pilot hired by NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, where her work included the SOFIA airborne observatory and other research platforms. At Virgin Galactic she flew VSS Unity as a pilot on Galactic 02, Galactic 04, and Galactic 05 in 2023.
Her three Virgin Galactic suborbital missions are counted as three spaceflights, listed in chronological order. Because the flights were minutes-long SpaceShipTwo missions, the profile emphasizes pilot role, vehicle, passengers/research context, and short suborbital duration rather than station details.