Since the advent of human spaceflight in 1961, fewer than 700 people have been to space, and one of them is Jameel Janjua, an MBA student at the Wharton School.
On June 8, Janjua, a spaceline pilot and astronaut with Virgin Galactic, copiloted VSS Unity to 287,011 feet (or around 54 miles) into space at Mach 2.96 (2,271 miles per hour).
With this feat, he fulfilled a lifelong dream, 40-plus years in the making, and one that appeared as if it would never come to pass.
After earning his undergraduate degree from the Royal Military College of Canada and his master’s from MIT, Janjua, who is from Alberta, Canada, became an F/A-18 pilot and fighter weapons instructor for the Royal Canadian Air Force. In 2009, he applied to be an astronaut for the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Canada’s version of NASA. The CSA, recruiting astronauts for the first time in 17 years, was admitting two people. Janjua made it to the final four, but ultimately was not selected.
Dismayed and disheartened, he thought his dream of going to space was over—until he was hired 11 years later by Virgin Galactic.
“I think it’s an important message to share,” he says. “A lot of time we talk about all the things that went right in our lives—and that’s really important, and is inspirational as well, especially for young people and college students—but I think it’s even more powerful to hear the back story of these successes, when all hopes seem lost in the pursuit of a dream. I want to share my journey and how I have managed to do some incredible things, such as flying to space; how I was able to forge a path toward my dream and reach for the stars although it seemed impossible after I wasn’t selected to be a government astronaut. I did work really hard, but I also had meaningful mentors. I got lucky breaks too, to be fair, at the right time.”
Penn Today spoke with Janjua about his interest in spaceflight, the fastest aircraft he has flown, the effect of supersonic speed on the body, attending Wharton, and his first time in space.
How did you become interested in flying and spaceflight? My dad used to take my brother and me to air shows when I was around 8 or 10 years old. The F/A-18 had just been brought into service right around then, in the mid-to-late ’80s, and that kind of ignited the spark. When I was in school, I learned about astronauts flying on the space shuttle and I thought, ‘I want to be an astronaut.’
Am I correct that you learned to fly at 16? Yes. I was in a program called the Royal Canadian Air Cadets when I was 12. It’s sort of like the Civil Air Patrol. They had these flying scholarships for air cadets who were interested and I won one when I was 15. That summer, when I was 16, I learned to fly a glider. I earned my glider pilot’s license and I’ve been flying ever since.
I also read that you got your pilot’s license before your driver’s license. True. I was fully licensed in an airplane before I was fully licensed in a car.
Solo? By yourself? You have to fly solo in these gliders to earn a pilot’s certificate. Any of these licenses require you to demonstrate solo proficiency.
Is the Royal Military College of Canada like the Canadian West Point? Yes, although it is a tri-service academy. In Canada, they don’t have individual service academies for each branch of the military. They have one tri-service academy that air force, army, and navy officers attend, and then they split to their branches afterward.
You are a dual American and Canadian citizen and have flown for both countries’ air forces. Can you talk a little bit about your time flying for the Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. Air Force? During my time with the Royal Canadian Air Force, I deployed on combat operations when I was on exchange with the Royal Air Force in Britain. I flew 84 combat missions in Afghanistan and Libya. Afterward, I was sent to the U.S. Air Force test pilot school at Edwards Air Force Base in California, where I earned a master’s degree in flight-test engineering in 2014. It was a fantastic and challenging experience. I stayed at Edwards after I graduated from the Air Force test pilot school, as an exchange officer from the Royal Canadian Air Force to the U.S. Air Force for almost five years.
I was flying the F-16 Viper and I was dual-qualified on the F-15 Advanced Eagle. It was awesome. There were some days where I would wake up super early, drive down to Palmdale Plant 42, which was where we were doing the F-15 testing with Boeing. We’d fly an early morning elevated risk test mission on the F-15 Eagle out over the sea test range. After our debriefs, it would be around midday, I’d drive up to Edwards and I’d fly the F-16 in the afternoon. I would get to fly these two unique and amazing fighter jets in one day. When you’re a kid at air shows, you never imagine that anybody does this, let alone that one day you would get to do this.
You have more than 5,000 hours flying more than 65 different aircrafts. Aside from the VSS Unity, what is the fastest aircraft you have piloted? The fastest I’ve been before I went to space was Mach 2.04 [1,552 miles per hour] in an F-16, and the fastest airplane I’ve flown was an F-15. It can go a little faster, but I’d never done a test out there.
What is the effect of supersonic speed on the body? Not a lot, actually. You’d be surprised. Flying these advanced fighters, particularly during tactical maneuvering as a frontline fighter pilot, which I was for many years, can be hard on the body. You pull a lot of G’s and there’s a lot of acceleration, so fighter pilots tend to be fit and vibrant people. Anybody would kind of get that from the movies. That’s what you see in ‘Top Gun,’ and part of it is true. You have to be in good shape and your body has to be able to withstand some pretty significant G forces.
Flying that fast actually doesn’t feel like anything. It’s mostly just a number on a display in the cockpit. I don’t want to diminish it because there are certainly some other things that come along with flying that fast. You have to be careful. There are some things that can go wrong, and if they do, then you need to be prepared to act. But I will say, being a fighter pilot or being a test pilot at that level is like playing the best game of chess you’ve ever played in your life. It’s far more cerebral than most people think. Supersonic speed really doesn’t affect the body, per se, but it certainly affects the mind. When you’re moving supersonic—like Mach 1.1, 1.2, 1.3—you have to be able to think and make decisions quickly. At Mach 2.04, you are moving 20 miles a minute. Every three seconds, you move one nautical mile. You need to think about where the airplane is going to be in 30 seconds, what airspace you are going to be in, where your wingmen are and what they need to do, and you also have a responsibility to communicate with the control room if you are conducting a flight test. And you can’t miss a beat. Time doesn’t stop for anybody. I love that part of the game. It keeps us young at heart and thinking fast.
How did it feel to finally go up into space and achieve your lifelong dream? On one level, in the leadup to that flight and the aftermath, it’s pretty foundational to your professional and personal life story. I think for me, it’s this concept that will resonate, I hope, with a lot of people. You don’t have to fly to space to understand this. It could be a kid who grew up loving football and finally playing in the Super Bowl; it could be a person practicing the piano and playing at Carnegie Hall; or an actor who ends up performing on Broadway. It’s huge, it’s like bringing it all together in a way. It proves that hard work and dedication pay off.
Why were you interested in attending the Wharton School? The concept of diverse experiences is a common thread in my own life. As I’ve matured and grown in my personal and professional life, I’ve realized how valuable it is to expose yourself to things that you might not have otherwise been exposed to, to go out of your way to get outside your comfort zone. It might make you feel a little vulnerable, but that is a good thing. Step into the ring where other people might think that you have no business being there. I think some of the most powerful and positive experiences people can have stem from putting themselves out there a bit and seeing the benefits and growth that result. I think going to Wharton did that for me.
Wharton sort of came into my consciousness with the help of mentors, at the right time in my life, and I’m really thankful. It has broadened my mind to areas of life, and obviously business and leadership, that I wouldn’t have otherwise considered or been able to grasp at such a high level. I am grateful to have shared some amazing experiences with a diverse group of students, staff, and faculty. The Wharton School attracts some very impressive folks and it is enriching to be surrounded by that group.
