An Interview with Brian Binnie: Commercial Space Test Pilot

Article

“An Interview with Brian Binnie: Commercial Space Test Pilot,” Interview by Leonard David
Published in Quest Volume: 29 #2 (2022)

Abstract

Brian Binnie is a former US Navy officer and pilot whose post–military career found him testing experimental rockets for commercial companies, first at Rotary Rocket and later for Scaled Composites. It was at the latter that he flew the historic flight of SpaceShipOne to win the X-Prize, the first commercial reusable vehicle to achieve orbit. In this 3 December 2021 interview, award-winning journalist Leonard David talks with Brian Binnie about his post-Navy career as a commercial space test pilot at Rotary Rocket and Scaled Composites and his experiences piloting the Roton, SpaceShipOne, and SpaceShipTwo.

This oral history has been edited for content and length. It was performed as part of a One Small Step grant from the SPACE 3.0 Foundation.

Citation

Binnie, William Brian. “An Interview with Brian Binnie: Commercial Space Test Pilot.” Interview with Leonard David. Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly 29, no. 2 (2022): 39-48.