Keith Colmer

Keith Colmer (born January 1, 1967) , known by the call sign Coma, is an American aerospace engineer and test pilot. In 2011, he was selected by Virgin Galactic as the company's first astronaut pilot, and in 2012 he piloted VSS Enterprise on the GF-21 suborbital test flight.

Early life and education Colmer earned a Bachelor of Science in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1989. After graduating, he worked in the Air Force Space Command as a satellite engineer on the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation. He subsequently earned two master's degrees from the University of Colorado Boulder, one in aerospace engineering in 1996, and one in telecommunications engineering in 2001. He flew the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon as a combat pilot with the Colorado Air National Guard, deploying twice to Iraq in 2008. He was later selected as an operational test pilot, overseeing sensor and electronic warfare flight test programs for the F-16 at the Air National Guard/Air Force Reserve Command Test Center (AATC) in Tucson, Arizona. He then completed two classified assignments, ending his active-duty career as a Combined Test Force Director and squadron commander on a classified program. Colmer retired as a Colonel.

His awards include the Order of Daedalians' Orville Wright Achievement Award, given to him in 1989 as the top graduate of his pilot training class, the Aaron C. George Award from the USAF Test Pilot School, the Lieutenant General Bobby Bond Memorial Aviator Award, and the Lieutenant General Howard W. Leaf "Test Team of the Year" award. Colmer presented at the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) in 2013.

Virgin Galactic career

In 2011, Virgin Galactic chose Colmer as its first commercial astronaut pilot selected through a competitive process, from a pool of more than 500 applicants. across more than 90 aircraft types, and had accumulated twelve years of test flight experience on operational, developmental, and experimental aircraft.

Gulfstream Aerospace and retirement Colmer joined Gulfstream Aerospace in October 2016 as an experimental test pilot for the Gulfstream G650/G700/G800 and Gulfstream G500/G600 aircraft. In April 2019, he served as vice president of flight operations for the company before retiring in 2023.