Northrop Grumman Corp. has promoted two executives to president and vice-president of Scaled Composites, its cutting edge aircraft manufacturing subsidiary based at the Mojave Air & Space Port. Kevin Mickey is now president of Scaled, after previously holding the positions of vice-president, executive vice-president and general manager. Cory Bird, the new vice-president, comes from the design side of Scaled Composites. He has worked on multiple aircraft, including SpaceShipOne, the vehicle that won the Ansari X Prize by demonstrating it could fly to an altitude of 100 kilometers twice in six days. Aviation pioneer Burt Rutan founded Scaled Composites in 1982 and retired from the firm in 2011. Northrop acquired the company in 2007. “Kevin and Cory have been instrumental in keeping the trains of innovation moving for over 20 years,” said Paul Meyer, vice-president and general manager of Advanced Programs Development at Northrop Grumman, in a prepared statement. “I am confident in their ability to continue the great work that started it all, bringing ingenuity and perseverance to realize concepts never before thought possible.” Scaled Composites is building the space vehicle and carrier aircraft for Virgin Galactic to take passengers to sub-orbital altitudes, and the carrier aircraft for billionaire Paul Allen’s giant Stratolaunch cargo spacecraft. Mickey succeeded Doug Shane, who has taken on a special assignment to directly support the completion of testing and the transition of commercial operations for the Virgin Galactic and Stratolaunch programs.