| George Whitesides | |
| State: | California |
| Term Start: | January 3, 2025 |
| Predecessor: | Mike Garcia |
| Succeeding: | Mike Garcia |
| Birth Name: | George Thomas Whitesides |
| Birth Date: | 3 March 1974 |
| Birth Place: | Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Spouse: | Loretta Hidalgo |
| Children: | 2 |
| Relatives: | George M. Whitesides (father) |
| Education: | Princeton University (BA) King's College, Cambridge (MPhil) |
| Awards: | NASA Distinguished Service Medal (2010) |
George Thomas Whitesides (born March 3, 1974)[1] is an American businessman and politician. For over a decade he was CEO of Virgin Galactic,[2] a firm developing commercial space vehicles at the Mojave Air and Space Port. He still serves as a member of the Virgin Galactic Advisory Board.[3] Whitesides was previously Chief of Staff of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Administrator Charles Bolden,[4] a position to which he was named after serving on the NASA transition team for the incoming Obama administration.[5]
On February 22, 2023, he announced his candidacy for California's 27th congressional district in the 2024 election. He defeated incumbent Republican representative Mike Garcia in the general election and will be sworn in on January 3, 2025.
Whitesides graduated from Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts in 1992.[6] He attended Princeton University, graduating from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in 1996,[7] and serving for four years on Princeton's Board of Trustees upon graduation. He later earned an MPhil in Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing from King's College, Cambridge, and was also a Fulbright Scholar in Tunisia.[8]
From 2004 to 2008, Whitesides served as the Executive Director of the National Space Society.[9] He is the co-creator of Yuri's Night, alongside his wife Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides.[10] In 2007, Whitesides was named Senior Advisor to Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's space tourism company.[11]
Whitesides worked on the presidential transition of Barack Obama.[12] After Obama took office, Whitesides was appointed Chief of Staff of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, where he served until May 7, 2010. Upon his departure, he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the agency's highest award.[13]
After leaving NASA, Whitesides returned to Virgin Galactic, where he became the first person in the company to hold the CEO title.
Whitesides was the Chairman of the Reusable Launch Vehicle Working Group of COMSTAC, the advisory committee for the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Division. He was also a board member of Astronomers Without Borders and the Space Generation Foundation.
In March 2021, Whitesides announced he would be leaving Virgin Galactic to pursue public service, but would still be in an advisory position to the publicly traded company.[14]
He has also served as a coach for Zero Gravity Corporation's parabolic flight service. In July 2021, as co-founder and project lead of the SciAccess Initiative's Mission: AstroAccess, Whitesides opened applications for people with disabilities to partake in a ZERO-G parabolic flight; on December 15, 2022, its first formal research parabolic flight was flown, with 14 disability ambassadors from 5 countries in the mission.[15]
On February 22, 2023, Whitesides announced he was running for California's 27th congressional district in the 2024 election as a Democrat, challenging incumbent Republican congressman Mike Garcia.[16] He defeated Garcia in the general election on November 5, 2024.[17]
Whitesides is married to Loretta Hidalgo Whitesides, and they have two children. His father is George M. Whitesides, a professor of chemistry at Harvard University.
Whitesides was described by Equality California as a “regional influencers” in 2020 and 2021 for his donations of undisclosed amounts and touted their endorsement in his 2024 congressional campaign. Equality California campaigned aggressively to eliminate cash bail for many types of crimes, legalize prostitution, shorten probation periods for misdemeanors and some felonies, and end qualified immunity for police.[18]