ASTRONAUT

Mike Melvill

1940 - Today

Photo of Mike Melvill

Icon of person Mike Melvill

Michael Winston Melvill (born November 30, 1940, in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a world-record-breaking pilot and one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the experimental spaceplane developed by Scaled Composites. Melvill piloted SpaceShipOne on its first flight past the edge of space, flight 15P on June 21, 2004, thus becoming the first commercial astronaut, and the 435th person to go into space. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Mike Melvill has received more than 174,022 page views. His biography is available in 15 different languages on Wikipedia. Mike Melvill is the 334th most popular astronaut (down from 275th in 2019), the 226th most popular biography from South Africa (down from 176th in 2019) and the most popular South African Astronaut.

Memorability Metrics

  • 170k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 48.51

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 15

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 3.02

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 2.72

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among ASTRONAUTS

Among astronauts, Mike Melvill ranks 334 out of 556. Before him are Joan Higginbotham, Alvin Drew, Oleg Novitsky, James van Hoften, Robert L. Gibson, and Roman Romanenko. After him are Mike Mullane, Yuri Shargin, Aleksandr Skvortsov, Guy Gardner, Michael J. Bloomfield, and Gregory C. Johnson.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1940, Mike Melvill ranks 577. Before him are Kenneth Clarke, James Burrows, Phil Lesh, Otacílio Gonçalves, Carole Ann Ford, and Billy Fury. After him are Trevor Nunn, Mike Troy, William Ferguson, Mary Rand, Howard Hesseman, and Cynthia Weil.

Others Born in 1940

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In South Africa

Among people born in South Africa, Mike Melvill ranks 226 out of 454. Before him are Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (1955), Troye Sivan (1995), Sol Plaatje (1876), Siphiwe Tshabalala (1984), Bram Fischer (1908), and Daphne Hasenjäger (1929). After him are Austin Stevens (1950), Bruce Johnstone (1937), William Ferguson (1940), Thomas François Burgers (1834), Louis Hayward (1909), and Brenda Fassie (1964).

Others born in South Africa

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Among ASTRONAUTS In South Africa

Among astronauts born in South Africa, Mike Melvill ranks 1. 

South African born Astronauts

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