Space for Humanity is excited to welcome Stephen Attenborough to our Board of Advisors.

As the former Commercial Director and Chief Customer Officer at Virgin Galactic, Stephen brings a wealth of experience and knowledge from his time in the commercial space industry. The team is looking forward to working with him and benefiting from his guidance and expertise, as we continue to grow and achieve our mission. With his industry experience and strategic vision, Stephen’s appointment further strengthens Space for Humanity’s commitment to making space accessible to all.

Keep reading to hear about Stephen’s journey to space for Earth, in his own words.

I joined Virgin Galactic as its first full-time employee in 2004, to lay the foundations of what we liked to call “the world’s first commercial spaceline.” Having had a (sort of) interview with Richard Branson over a cup of tea in his London home, I set off on what would become the most challenging and wonderful business adventure of a lifetime.

I wasn’t exactly skeptical of the Virgin Galactic plan before that chat, but to be honest I didn’t fully understand why Richard was so enthusiastic about it, let alone how he planned to pull it off. I remember walking away from the meeting though, feeling inspired and excited and completely getting it. Key to that revelation was appreciating for the first time that the essential gift of human spaceflight, is its ability, literally and figuratively, to transform human perspectives.

Richard recommended I read Frank White’s The Overview Effect, which I did and from day one, as we started to build the Virgin Galactic brand, attract our first customers, and develop the new space vehicles, we put the “Why” of the new company, its Purpose, front and centre. It is an incredibly powerful force in any business – but particularly in one as challenging as space travel – when everyone involved recognizes that they are working on something bigger than themselves, that the legacy of their work will not just be long-lasting but can truly change the world for good.

Over the years, I was privileged to be able to help create and build a fantastic, diverse, global and emotionally engaged community of astronauts in waiting. I got to know hundreds of people who were determined to experience space for themselves. Although they came at that from many different angles, they were united in wanting to see, feel, absorb and then (importantly) share, what a planetary perspective really means - that we are all in this together, fellow passengers on spaceship Earth. It is what excited me most about my job every morning for 18 years.

Prior to his own flight, Richard asked us to put together a plan which would allow him to celebrate it, by offering a couple of seats to people not in a position to buy, but who could uniquely use the experience as a force for good. As we were also keen to raise money from this initiative to continue the legacy onwards, it was completely natural to team-up with the amazing visionaries at Space for Humanity. I was fortunate enough to lead that initial planning for Virgin Galactic, and developed a great personal respect for the depth and breadth and thoughtfulness of the organisation, as well as having a strong affinity with its purpose.

I therefore couldn’t be more delighted, having stepped down from my role at Virgin Galactic, to be able to play a small, ongoing part in opening space for good, as an Advisory Board member of Space for Humanity.