Flying Passengers to Space, with Mike Masucci

By John Zimmerman
Nov 18, 2025
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Pilot's Discretion Podcast, episode 117

As an astronaut for Virgin Galactic, Mike Masucci flies one of the most unique aircraft ever built, but at the end of the day he says his job is to be a great glider pilot. In this fascinating episode, he takes us inside the spaceship to describe what it’s like to see Earth from above, what it sounds like in space, and how he guides the aircraft back to a safe landing. Mike also spent many years flying the U-2 in the Air Force and the Citation X for a fractional provider, and he shares lessons learned from both jobs. In the Ready to Copy segment, Mike talks about test pilot school, staying awake on long flights, and tips for flight instructors.

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Quotes:

Flying into space: “before you know it, you're going Mach 3 at 150,000 feet straight up, getting boosted up into space. And that's all hand-flown.”
The view: “It's a very retrospective way of thinking of space. We go to space to see Earth.”
The sounds: “the spaceship is beautifully quiet. There's no motors running, there's nothing spinning”
TThe cabin in space: “the pressure inside the spaceship is staying around 5,500 feet. So we're basically the same altitude as Denver when we go to space.”
Staying current in the spaceship: “all of our pilots are glider pilots. And all of our pilots, to go to space, need to have glider landing currency.”
Flying the approach to landing: “we're at about a nine-degree glide path. So we're three times as steep as a nominal approach in a light GA aircraft.”
The value of glider flying: “I highly recommend if you have the opportunity to get some glider experience… You learn a lot about energy management”
Flying the U-2: “You are operating in that last percentage of the capability of the aircraft, because that's the objective”
Transitioning from the U-2 to the Citation X: “you're going to laugh but the hardest part, believe it or not, was the avionics.”
Flying airplanes with different performance: “The challenge always is to understand the aircraft you're getting in that day is the aircraft you're getting in that day.”
The most surprising thing about space flights: “the real thing that surprised me was a sense of coming to a stop.”
How to stay awake on 10-hour solo flights: “I'd be lying to you if I said I never read a Clancy novel above 70,000 feet.”