From watching fighter jets roar over the Highlands as a boy to looking back at Earth from almost 56 miles above the planet, David Mackay followed a childhood ambition further than almost anyone could have imagined.
The former RAF test pilot made history on 22 February 2019 when he flew Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity into suborbital space above California.
Reaching an altitude of 295,007ft Mackay became the first Scottish-born person to travel into space. It was the culmination of an ambition which had begun decades earlier in the north of Scotland.
Mackay spent his early childhood at Bettyhill before moving to Helmsdale, where the sight of military aircraft flying low from RAF Lossiemouth captured his imagination.
Then came the Apollo programme. Watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the Moon convinced the young Scot that becoming an astronaut was something he wanted to pursue.
He learned that many of the early astronauts had been military test pilots. Mackay effectively formed his career plan from there.
Mackay studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Glasgow, graduating in 1979. He also joined the University Air Squadron and learned to fly while he was a student.
Speaking to the University of Glasgow, Mackay recalled: “Watching the moon landings was incredible – very inspiring and exciting for a young kid – and I found out that those early astronauts were former military test pilots.
“I was living in Helmsdale, in the north of Scotland, and saw these military aircraft flying overhead from RAF Lossiemouth. I thought it would be fantastic to be a pilot and fly down those valleys at high speed, so I put together a very bold, ambitious plan of becoming a test pilot and then an astronaut.
“I always knew the chances of it were very slender, but I think if you don’t try, you’ll never get there.”
Flying quickly became more interesting than studying. Mackay has recalled beginning university as a diligent student before discovering the Air Squadron and finding himself increasingly distracted by the opportunity to get into an aircraft.
After university he joined the RAF, beginning a career which would take him into some of the most demanding aircraft in British aviation, including flying Harriers, and later became a test pilot at Boscombe Down. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1992.
After leaving the RAF in 1995, he moved into commercial aviation with Virgin Atlantic, flying aircraft including Boeing 747s and Airbus A340s.
Then came the opportunity that would finally reconnect him with the dream he had formed as a boy in Helmsdale.
Dave McKay, left with Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic crew
Mackay moved to Virgin Galactic in 2009. It meant giving up an established airline career for a project which was attempting something radically different – taking people into suborbital space aboard a rocket-powered spaceplane.
Ten years later, Mackay was sitting in the cockpit for the flight that made Scottish history.
VSS Unity was carried high above California by its mothership before being released. Its rocket motor then fired, accelerating the spacecraft to more than three times the speed of sound.
Mackay and fellow pilot Michael “Sooch” Masucci took Unity to an altitude of around 55.9 miles. Virgin Galactic chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses was also on board, becoming the first person to test the passenger cabin during a spaceflight.
For Mackay, the first emotion on reaching space was not triumph, it was relief. This was still a test flight. The aircraft had to perform as planned and return safely to Earth.
He described what it was like the moment he first say Earth from space: “I was astonished at how bright the Earth’s surface is. The first time we went up over the Mojave Desert, it felt like I was standing on a sandy beach on a bright sunny day. In contrast to that, looking into space, it’s the darkest, mattest black I’ve ever seen.
“So you’ve got this incredible range of brightness, which I’ve never seen captured in the same way on film or on still. You can see so much of the curvature of the Earth that you get a sense of its scale. I could really envisage the size of the planet we’re above, and to me, it’s not big. This is a small planet.”
Mackay went on to command further Virgin Galactic spaceflights, including Unity 21 in May 2021. He was also one of the pilots when Sir Richard Branson made his own flight aboard Unity 22 in July that year.
Mackay lives in New Mexico but his connection with Scotland has remained strong: “Really, my home is Scotland, and always will be. I feel this connection with the place, and my family, for many generations, all come from the Northern Highlands, north and west coast. When I’m there, I feel a contact with the land and the people … it just feels that’s where I should be.”
Learning to fly while at Glasgow University propelled a boy from Helmsdale to become the first Scottish-born man to reach space and he’s still looking upwards: “I think I was stubborn enough not to give up on the dream. My mother used to say I was very ‘thrawn’ – an old Scottish word – which meant I’d get an idea and wouldn’t let it go. I don’t like to be beaten by things.”
Dave is a non-executive director of Sutherland Launch, which is developing spaceport and aerospace opportunities in the Scottish Highlands that aim to create lasting economic benefits for local communities.
You can read the full interview in Avenue, the University of Glasgow’s alumni magazine, here.