The Spaceship Company announced today that Doug Shane has been named as president.

The Spaceship Company, owned by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group and Abu Dhabi’s aabar Investments PJS, is a sister company to Virgin Galactic. The Spaceship Company is responsible for manufacturing Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip Two and White Knight Two vehicles.

Shane, who previously served as executive vice president and general manager of The Spaceship Company, will continue to report to George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Company.

Shane previously served as president of Scaled Composites, a position he took over from founder Burt Rutan. Scaled Composites was previously a half-owner of The Spaceship Company but sold its interest to the Virgin Group in 2012.

Scaled’s involvement in the Spaceship Two has greatly diminished over the years. Relations between Scaled and Virgin Galactic are reported to be strained since Scaled began working with Paul Allen on the Stratolaunch project.

The Spaceship Company has grown to over 250 employees, with more than 175,000 square feet of composite fabrication, system integration, final assembly, and testing facilities.

The Spaceship Company reports that it is roughly halfway through the build of the second Spaceship Two tail number. A second White Knight Two is also under construction.

“Doug has brought his focused and experienced management style to the build of our second set of vehicles as well as our test flight efforts,” George Whitesides said. “His continued leadership will be essential as the team moves rapidly through the second half of spaceship construction and on to the next vehicles.”