SpaceShipOne pilot has logged time on the craft: "The pilot will be 62-year-old Mike Melvill, who is also vice president and general manager of Scaled Composites, the firm run by SpaceShipOne developer Burt Rutan.
Organizers of the launch delayed announcing the identity of the pilot until Sunday. In May, Melvill flew the same aircraft to an altitude of 40 miles.
At a press conference at Mojave Airport Sunday, Rutan and his financier, Paul G. Allen, announced Melvill would be the pilot. They said Melvill had more than 6,400 hours of flying time in more than 100 aircraft and helicopters.
A native of South Africa, Melvill moved to the United States from England in the 1970s. He is now a U.S. citizen. He and his wife, Sally, have one child and four grandchildren. "