The Virgin Galactic reuseable, suborbital spacecraft on static display at the Farnborough International Airshow, UK, on July 15, 2012. Photo: Steve Mann/Shutterstock.com

Richard Branson's space tourism company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. has hired Michelle Kley as general counsel, secretary and executive vice president of legal. 

Kley arrives at Mojave, California-based Virgin Galactic shortly after it made history by becoming the world's first public commercial space flight company by merging in October with Social Capital Hedosophia, a public investment vehicle. Latham & Watkins and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advised the two companies on the transaction.

"Virgin Galactic is on the verge of providing the space experience to many people and has the potential to transform the way we perceive the opportunity space exploration provides," Kley said in a prepared statement.

"I am honored to join the company at this exciting time," she added. "I'm delighted to be joining such a talented team as Virgin Galactic begins its journey as a publicly listed company.''

Vanessa Chandler, general counsel of Virgin Galactic LLC, and Jeri Rouse Looney, GC and head of administration for The Spaceship Co., Virgin Galactic's aerospace system manufacturing organization, will remain in their roles and report to Kley, according to a spokeswoman for the company. Attempts to speak with Kley were unsuccessful.

Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides noted that Kley "has a proven track record of leading legal teams and brings a wealth of experience to our team." He expected that she "will help support our ambitions as a publicly listed company." 

Kley joins Virgin Galactic, a part of Branson's Virgin Group, by way of Maxar Technologies Inc., a space technology company headquartered in Westminster, Colorado. 

Kley went in-house for the aerospace industry in 2012, as an associate general counsel for a Palo Alto, California-based subsidiary of Maxar called SSL. The company makes spacecraft and space-related systems, including satellites and robotics. 

She was promoted to SSL's vice president of legal in 2015 and, about a year later, elevated to senior vice president, chief legal officer, general counsel and secretary of Maxar, according to her LinkedIn profile. 

Earlier in her career, Kley was a corporate associate for Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and, later, Morrison & Foerster. She also had a stint as legal counsel of technology, media and business solutions for the Beazley Group, an insurance company. 

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CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Michelle Kley succeeded Vanessa Chandler, general counsel of Virgin Galactic LLC.