Mike Melvill

Life and career

Michael Winston Melvill came into the world on November 30, 1940, in Johannesburg, South Africa. His path to aerospace legend began in 1978 when he flew his homebuilt VariViggen to California to show it to Burt Rutan, the designer and founder of Scaled Composites; Rutan hired him immediately. By 1982, Melvill had become Rutan's lead test pilot. He helped found the team behind the Rutan Voyager, the aircraft that circled the globe, and was the only person besides its crew, Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, ever to fly it.

In 1997, he and Dick Rutan each built a Long-EZ and flew them side by side around the world on a trip called The Spirit of EAA Friendship World Tour, with some legs lasting over 14 hours. His landmark 2004 flights aboard SpaceShipOne won the project the $10 million Ansari X Prize and kicked off the global private space race.

Later, he served as Vice President and General Manager at Scaled Composites. His pilot credentials included an FAA Commercial certificate with ratings for single-engine land, multi-engine land, instrument, helicopter, glider, and astronaut. Melvill passed away on March 19, 2026, at age 85.

Did You Know?

• He was the only person other than Voyager's crew to fly the Rutan Voyager aircraft.
• Melvill was awarded the Iven C. Kincheloe Award in 1999 for high altitude flight-testing of the Proteus aircraft.