Brian Binnie
SpaceShipOne
Mojave, CA USA
"It's really all about perseverance. I just had this attitude where failure was just not an option."
Career Roadmap
Brian's work combines: Engineering, Armed Services, and Being Physically Active
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, General
Brown University
Graduate Degree
Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering, General
Princeton University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
When he was a kid, he'd play with toy rockets and gliders; clearly his great passion from day one.
2.
Had to apply to naval test pilot school three times before he was finally accepted; flying was much harder than he'd expected.
3.
Final test came down to him landing an old jet on an aircraft carrier at night in a storm; says "you live your life for moments like that."
4.
Was in the Navy for 20 years; wanted to keep flying rather than work a desk job, went to Mojave to keep flight testing.
5.
Jumped into flight testing private spaceships, started pursuing Ansari X prize (flying a private aircraft into space on two occasions).
6.
They hit failure after failure, finally got something right: spaceships kept successfully flying higher and higher.
7.
After making it into space once, he was chosen for do-or-die second flight; it was successful, set winged aircraft altitude record.
8.
Even after flying into space, felt more out of his comfort zone later that week doing Late Show with David Letterman.
