CORPORATE SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS:
If you wish to book Jackie to speak to your organization, corporate event or Company's next conference, please contact her directly. 0064 (0)21 664 445.
MEDIA LINKS:
TV 1 BREAKFAST 8th October 2008: Click here
LAUNCH OF WHITEKNIGHT2 28 July 2008: Click here
SUNDAY TIMES UK INTERVIEW 27 Jan 2008: Click here
STEPHEN ATTENBOROUGH, CEO VIRGIN GALACTIC Click here
VIRGIN GALACTIC NEW YORK UNVEIL 23 Jan 2008: Click here
ZERO-G FLIGHT 21 Jan 2008: Click here to check out Jackie's photos!
TV3 CAMPBELL LIVE 11 Nov 2007: Click here for full story
SIR RICHARD BRANSON'S TRAINING 3 Dec 2007: Click here for full story
TV3 CAMPBELL LIVE 6 Nov 2007: Click here for full story
ASTRONAUT TRAINING 6 Nov 2007: Click here for full story
TO BE FIRST NZ WOMAN IN SPACE 6 Nov 2007: Click here for full story
CAPTAIN'S LOG:
14/10/08: Contacted by the Kiwi magazine in London, TNT UK. Following is the article that appeared (scroll down). 
TNT_Space_Girl_Article_Oct_08.pdf (1.10 MB)
7/10/08: The Team from Virgin Galactic and House of Travel rocketed into town today and the 4 Kiwi astronauts-in-waiting met for the first time over lunch at Clearwater Resort. Carolyn Wincer, Head of Astronaut Sales for Virgin Galactic (and a good ol Kiwi gal) filled us in on the latest developments out of Mojave, and the latest eta rollout for SpaceShip 2 is looking on track for April-June 09. Incidentally NZ has the highest sign up of astronauts per capita of any other counry. Are you surprised? And of the 4 Kiwi astronauts booked so far, 3 of us are from the South Island. Again, are you surprised??
28/7/08: The Mothership, WhiteKnightTwo (WK2), the cutting-edge aircraft that will launch SpaceShip2, was unveiled at a media gathering in Mojave Air & Spaceport, California today. We're one small step closer to launch folks. WhiteKnight2_Rollout_Press_Release.pdf
6/6/08: Scaled Composites have announced the pre test-flight rollout of WhiteKnightTwo, the mothership for SpaceShipTwo. It will be a milestone event in aerospace technology for the world's first private space launch system for humans, science research and payload. The rollout will be at Mojave Spaceport on the 28th of July followed by a celebration party back in Bel Air. Keep you posted!
6/3/08: Received an update from Virgin Galactic about the next media unveil scheduled to be half way through this year. Currently awaiting dates. Will keep you posted.
31/1/08: We've just returned from a very cold New York where Virgin Galactic heralded in the 'Year of the Spaceship' with a huge media unveil at the Rose Center for Space It was a huge affair with over 200 media and 30 TV channels there to record the event. Richard and Burt unveiled the new designs of both the Mothership (WhiteKnightTwo) and SpaceshipTwo (check it out on YouTube) and answered dozens of questions. The designs have been altered quite considerably since SpaceShipOne and the team of designers and engineers from Scaled Composites explained their reasons to the media.
Time wise, Scaled are hoping to complete the Mothership and SpaceShipTwo by the end of this year and start a 12-18 month testing programme following that. We'll have more of an idea when flights might begin when testing has been complete.
Getting to meet Richard Branson; Brian Binnie, test pilot from SS1; Apollo 7 Astronaut Walter Cunningham; and the delightful Princess Beatrice were all highlights of the trip - as was my Zero G flight in New York on the 21st of January. We flew out of LaGuardia airport to 30,000 feet in a Boeing 727-200 which had been completely gutted and lined with padding. We completed about 15 parabola's (steep descent followed by steep ascent with a period of about 15-30 seconds of weightlessness at the peak) and floating around in Zero G was quite different to anything else. The company, Zero G, have been around for 15 years training astronauts and The Matrix 2 & 3 were filmed in the plane. Having experienced weightlessness and the various G-forces we can expect, you could say that I'm now ready to go!
9/1/08: The dress code for the Gala event on the 23rd has been handled ('hint of silver'). This morning I received in the mail a small silver pin of Spaceship 2 from the team at VG...Fly out to the US in 7 days.
17/12/07: Just received a DVD of my Founder Training from Philidelphia from VG. Looking forward to re-living the experience...
4/12/07: Received an invitation from VG to the launch of SpaceshipTwo at a gala event in New York in mid January. It's a long haul back but looking forward to meeting up with Richard (Branson) and Burt Rutan, from Scaled Composites (they're building the space planes). Dress code: Hint of Silver.
26/11/07: I have just returned from my first training session with Virgin Galactic in Philidelphia. Without a doubt the most intense and exciting experience I've ever had!
I met 5 of the other Founders and the team from Virgin Galactic over dinner, then the following day we drove to Nastar's space training facilities and met with the crew there. We were given a guided tour of the facilities (also used to train jet fighter pilots) and had a session in the classroom with our instructor Glen. Each of us were given 2 flight profiles that afternoon in the centrifuge, the second profile always more intense than the first. By the end of the day, we had all experienced pulling 3.5 GZ's (head to toe G force) and 6 GX's (front to back G force).
On day two we experienced the 'full monty' - a full profile of the flight, the G-forces we can expect, together with a simulated screen of what we will be looking at. Our training kicked in as we 'flew' up to 50,000 ft, released from the carrier plane , initiated rocket launch and flew straight up to 360,000 ft into space. We then completed the re-entry profile back to Space Port in New Mexico.
The team at Virgin Galactic were fantastic and great fun. The crew at Nastar did a superb job also and to our immense relief we all graduated and collected our wings.
The whole experience has left me with a new appreciation for the 'mission' we are involved with, and a great sense of pride and privilege at being a part of it all.
This is becoming an amazing journey.
6/11/07: Inundated with media keen to talk to me regards my flight and training next week. I'll be glad to get on the plane to NY!
5/11/07: Countdown to training has begun! I fly off to Philidelphia in a week to Nastar for my first space training. I received a pamphlet from them outlining what we can expect, namely centrifuge training, learning to cope with G-forces on the body, learning what will be involved in the flight, and the theory involved. I'm looking forward to meeting some of the other Founders' (training for the Founders started in September, so I'm one of the last group to go through) and keen to know that I'll cope with the pressures we can expect.
4/9/07: It was announced today that the Foster & Partners and URS team has won an international competition to build the first private spaceport in the world - the New Mexico Spaceport Authority Building.
18/8/07: Advised by Virgin Galactic that my travel and training dates are booked for my first round of 'astronaut training' in Philidelphia. The National Aerospace Training and Research Center (Nastar) has signed a contract with Virgin Galactic to provide training for all Virgin Galactic’s suborbital space travelers, prior to our first flights.
26/7/07: A very sad day. Three Scaled Composites workers were killed, and three others injured, in an explosion at the firm's facility at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California during an oxidizer system test for the company's suborbital SpaceShipTwo passenger spacecraft.
"The outpouring of support form around the world has been incredible, and we can't thank you enough for all the support you have given us," Scaled Composites officials said in a statement posted to the firm's Web site on Saturday. "We're trying to do what we can to support the families during this tragic time." A very hard time for all concerned.
5/7/07: The Domion Post rang regarding a story they were writing about Kiwi's being the biggest sign-up's for Virgin Galactic's space flights per head of population - there are now 4 bookings confirmed. The Dom asked the Press to organise a photo of Mark Rocket (the other ChCh Founder I'm flying with - and yes, he did change his name by deed poll) and I, holding a couple of NASA space helmets which ran in The Press the next day. The name Jackie Jetson is now getting far too much air time...
25/6/07: We finally received our dates today for centrifuge training for the Founders, and I'm flying over to New York in early November 07 to complete this. We'll be training at the Nastar facility in Philadelphia (http://www.nastarcentre.com/) in groups of 6 and the programme will take 2 days. Virgin's Chief Medical Officer will be in attendance to tailor our training programme and help us get the most from our spaceflight, together with 2 or more members of the Virgin Galactic Team. At last, a chance to meet up with my fellow Founders for the first time!
5/6/07: First TV appearance (poor viewers) on TV1's Good Morning Show. Now I know who's still watching the television at this time of the day...!
2/6/07: Currently waiting to hear some key dates from Virgin Galactic regarding when our first Zero G training will commence.
We're also waiting to hear when the launch of SpaceShipTwo will be, hopefully the end of this year or beginning of 2008. Looking forward to heading over to the the US and meeting the other Founders (and Richard and Burt) for the first time!
22/5/07: sent over my measurements to Virgin Galactic for my suit and gloves that I'll need for my training. Hoping the suit won't be as bulky as the ones that Neil and Buzz used....
25/4/07: Cape Canaveral: Stephen Hawking, the celebrated British astrophysicist and black-hole theorist, author of "A Brief History of Time," paralyzed by Lou Gehrig's disease and communicating largely through eye movements, has long wanted to visit outer space. Today was his first improbable step towards that goal as he experienced Zero G for the first time. "It was amazing. . . . I could have gone on and on. Space, here I come," Hawking said afterward.
5/4/07: Great news from New Mexico. "Final design and engineering for Spaceport America will move into “high gear” as a result of passage of the Spaceport Tax in Dona Ana County, according to Rick Homans, chairman of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority and the state’s cabinet secretary for economic development." Spaceport America is a landmark project that will be built in Sierra County, 45 miles northeast of Las Cruces. According to economic forecasts by NMSU and Futron, Spaceport America may spur up to 5,000 new jobs and up to $1 billion in new revenue in the state. Spaceport America is scheduled to open for business in late 2009 or early 2010.
Also, some interesting stats: Virgin Galactic's Sales Agents worldwide are now averaging one new booking every 11.8 days and 65,000 people have now registered interest on Virgin's website, from 125 different countries. Momentum is building.
21/2/07: Great news! I'm contacted by House of Travel to say that Virgin have offered me a Founders seat! It means I have to pay up front, but to be the first 100 to fly, how can I say no! I'm upgraded to Founder.
24/1/07: My first meeting to discuss 'the idea of going into space' with House of Travel in Christchurch. Was given a couple of DVD's to watch....there's no going back! I book my ticket.
