Michael photographs the Eden Project
Michael has visited the Virgin Galactic Assembly building at Mojave Air and Space Port during a Future Astronaut's meeting. Together with many others of his fellow future astronauts Michael has been offered a unique insight into the spaceship construction facility.
SpaceShipTwo is built to carry passengers on suborbital rides. The vehicle did its second powered test flight early September this year, breaking the sound barrier as it roared through the skies over the Mojave Desert. The spaceship was released at 46,000 feet (14,000 meters) and burned its hybrid rocket engine for 20 seconds, which was four seconds longer than on the previous flight. The craft reached a maximum altitude of 65,000 feet (19,812 m) and a top speed of Mach 1.6. Test pilots Mark Stucky and Clint Nichols put the six-passenger spaceship through its paces, conducting a test of the feather re-entry system for the first time in powered flight before guiding the vehicle to a safe touchdown on Runway 30 at the Mojave Air and Space Port.
Since 2011 Michael Najjar's is one of Virgin Galactics Pioneer Astronauts. His upcoming flight into space will make him the first artist in space.