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William Brian Binnie (April 26, 1953 – September 15, 2022) was a United States Navy officer and one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites and flown from 2003 to 2004.
Early lifeEdit
Binnie was born in West Lafayette, Indiana, on April 26, 1953,<ref name=CS/> where his Scottish father William P. Binnie was a professor of physics at Purdue University. The family returned to Scotland when Binnie was five, and lived in Aberdeen (his father taught at Aberdeen University) and later in Stirling.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> When Binnie was a teenager the family moved to Boston.<ref name=PAW>Template:Cite news</ref>
Binnie earned a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering from Brown University. He earned a master's degree from Brown in fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. Binnie was rejected by the United States Air Force, and enrolled at Princeton University, where he earned a master's degree in mechanical and aerospace engineering<ref name=PAW /> He served for 21 years in the United States Navy as a naval aviator, reaching the rank of commander.<ref name=thenationalnews/> He flew the A-7 Corsair II, A-6 Intruder, F/A-18 Hornet, and AV-8B Harrier II. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1988. Binnie also copiloted the Atmospheric Test Vehicle of the Rotary Rocket. In 2006, he received an honorary degree from the University of Aberdeen.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
SpaceShipOne and spaceflightEdit
On December 17, 2003, the 100th anniversary of the Wright brothers' first powered flight, Binnie piloted the first powered test flight of SpaceShipOne, flight 11P, which reached a top speed of Mach 1.2 and a height of Template:Convert. On October 4, 2004, he piloted SpaceShipOne's second Ansari X Prize flight, flight 17P, winning the X Prize and becoming the 436th person to go into space. His flight, which peaked at Template:Convert, set a winged aircraft altitude record for suborbital flights,<ref name=alt>"FAI Record ID #9881 – Altitude above the earth's surface with or without maneuvres of the aerospacecraft, Class P-1 (Suborbital missions) Template:Webarchive" Mass Template:Webarchive Time Template:Webarchive Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Retrieved: September 21, 2014.</ref> breaking the old record set by the North American X-15 in 1963.<ref name="wired041004">Template:Cite magazine</ref> It also earned him the second Astronaut Badge to be given by the FAA for a flight aboard a privately operated commercial spacecraft.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Later careerEdit
In 2014 Binnie joined XCOR Aerospace as senior engineer and test pilot, after working as a test pilot and program business manager for Scaled Composites for many years.<ref name=sn20140403>Template:Cite news</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Binnie and his wife, Bub, had three children.<ref name=thenationalnews>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Binnie died on September 15, 2022, at age 69.<ref name=CS>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:The Spaceship Company Template:Scaled Composites Template:Portal bar Template:Authority control