Brian Binnie

Early life

Brian Binnie came into the world on April 26, 1953, in West Lafayette, Indiana, where his father, Scottish physicist William P. Binnie, taught at Purdue University. When Binnie was five, his family moved back to Scotland, settling first in Aberdeen—where his father joined the faculty at Aberdeen University—and later in Stirling. As a teenager, the family relocated again, this time to Boston. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from Brown University, followed by a master’s in fluid mechanics and thermodynamics from the same school.

After the U.S. Air Force turned him down, he pursued a master’s in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton University. Binnie then spent 21 years as a naval aviator in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of commander.

His flight experience included the LTV A-7 Corsair II, Grumman A-6 Intruder, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, and McDonnell Douglas AV-8B Harrier II. He completed the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in 1988 and later served as copilot for the Rotary Rocket’s Atmospheric Test Vehicle. In 2006, the University of Aberdeen awarded him an honorary degree.

SpaceShipOne and spaceflight

Brian Binnie flew SpaceShipOne on two historic occasions. On December 17, 2003, exactly a century after the Wright brothers' first flight, he took the craft on its first powered test, hitting Mach 1.2 and climbing to 20.7 kilometers. The following year, on October 4, 2004, he commanded the second Ansari X Prize mission.

Reaching 367,442 feet, his flight broke the suborbital altitude record for a winged aircraft, surpassing the X-15's 1963 mark. This achievement made Binnie the 436th person to reach space and secured the X Prize. He also received only the second FAA Astronaut Badge awarded for a flight on a privately owned commercial spacecraft.

Did You Know?

• Binnie piloted SpaceShipOne's first powered test flight on December 17, 2003, exactly 100 years after the Wright brothers' first powered flight.
• He was rejected by the United States Air Force before joining the Navy.