213: Space, the Final Frontier | Dan Hart

Dan Hart left his 34-year career at Boeing to embark on a new adventure as CEO of Virgin Orbit. Working for Richard Branson’s startup was the opportunity of a lifetime during the heyday of new space, and the company enjoyed a string of successes before the company filed for bankruptcy in April 2023. The 1969 moon landing had a big impact on Dan in his early years and he simply cold called NASA to see if he could get a job! To his luck, they answered and he found his way to Kennedy Space Centre. The Challenger accident occurred in January 1986 and it impacted all the individuals in the industry and halted the programme for a number of years. Dan himself watched the events unfold with his team and they were all reminded of the dangers of the work they were involved in. It was in 2016 that Dan was asked to take on the CEO role of Virgin Orbit. Dan had been following the recent space race developments and Virgin Orbit working along side Richard Branson was an appealing challenge. Note: Virgin Orbit was set up to launch satellites whereas Virgin Galactic was focused on space tourism. Virgin Orbit was trying to be the first to launch a liquid rocket off the wing of an aeroplane. The X1 and X15 many years ago had been liquid propelled but none had been orbital. A liquid rocket is a complicated machine with multiple variables and unknowns. The legacy of the space industry was the compelling reason Dan said yes to Virgin Orbit with high risk and high reward on the agenda. Why is space so compelling for iconic billionaires such as Branson, Musk and Bezos? Dan considers it to be the potential for limitless learning, legacy and impactful world changing technologies and scientific breakthroughs. Dan remains excited as to the developments in space science such as expeditions to Jupiter and Mars to enhance our ability to understand the universe. Dan explains moving from Boeing to Virgin felt liberating as he took charge of a small, agile start up with a mandate to reinvent from the go. Great technical talent met creativity so anything was now possible. I ask Dan what it was like working shoulder to shoulder with Richard Branson? Dan talks about Richard's, awareness, inquisitive nature and visionary qualities allowing others to flourish and thrive. As CEO Dan needed to be the positive drive for others to push for achieving the never achieved before but also mindful of the lessons of the past, such as Challenger. Dan was involved in projects where they were 'punching above their weight' due to the attractiveness of the space industry. Virgin Orbit was invited to the G7 Summit in 2021 and worked with Prime Minister Boris Johnson for the first launch ever from the UK. There was no 'playbook' for this type of event and adventure. Dan tells the story when he feared his team could be arrested by the police from continuing the project as the explosive charges of the rocket were being considered as manufacturing ordnance. Whilst these things slowed the project down, the team found the resilience to overcome all obstacles. Virgin Orbit launched successfully 4 times in a row which was a huge achievement for a new start up in the sector. They also experienced significant failures along the way as failure was inevitable. Dan remembers after one failure, Richard Branson immediately said to him, 'when's the next ride going to be ready?' A leader's ability to bounce back allowed for the whole team to move on to thinking about tomorrow and not just the failure of today. As the CEO Dan remembers the times when he was there to push and motivate the team and yet he also remembers those times when the team pushed and motivated him. When Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy in 2023 Dan reflected on the group of people who achieved so much in the knowledge that they changed space technology for the better. "Everything pulls us forward, even when the lights go out behind you."