Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc., a business spaceflight enterprise backed by billionaire Richard Branson, has named Sarah Kim its chief lawful officer and corporate secretary.

Kim, who has been common counsel for the recently-merged Topgolf Callaway Brand names Inc., will acquire on people roles as of Dec. 5, Virgin Galactic declared this week. She succeeds previous lawful main Michelle Kley, who remaining Virgin Galactic in July.

“As someone who has a lifelong curiosity in the sciences and room, I are unable to hold out to enable engage in a position in the upcoming of this transformative and promptly escalating field,” Kim claimed in a assertion.

The spaceflight industry, whose big players involve Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin LLC and Elon Musk’s House Exploration Systems Corp., has been employing in-house attorneys to tackle lawful and regulatory troubles.

Tustin, Calif.-centered Virgin Galactic said earlier this month that it expects to start commercial spaceflights by the 2nd quarter of 2023, owning beforehand delayed exams and a approach to have its founder Branson into orbit.

Branson finally blasted off in July 2021 but the company’s share selling price fell next its most the latest flight postponement in August.

Virgin Galactic faces shareholder litigation about a merger with a unique function acquisition firm that took it general public a few yrs ago. Roughly a quarter of Branson’s estimated $5.2 billion fortune is invested in companies that went public working with these kinds of automobiles, according to Bloomberg Information.

Topgolf Callaway, where by Kim labored ahead of becoming a member of Virgin Galactic, was shaped past 12 months soon after predecessor Callaway Golfing Co. agreed to pay $2 billion to obtain the rest of what it did not currently possess in Topgolf Intercontinental Inc.

Brian Lynch, Topgolf Callaway’s main economical officer and a former standard counsel at Callaway Golf, also now serves as the combined company’s chief legal officer, according to its government management webpage.

A securities submitting by Callaway Golfing before this calendar year unveiled that Lynch gained a $4 million bonus for his work aiding the Carlsbad, Calif.-based mostly corporation total its obtain of Topgolf. Callaway Golf set Lynch’s whole compensation at virtually $8.4 million in the course of fiscal 2021, in accordance to a proxy assertion.

Topgolf’s previous prime lawyer left the firm in advance of that offer in mid-2020.

Callaway Golf employed Kim in 2019 just after she spent two yrs at what is now Petco Wellbeing and Wellness Co. The previous DLA Piper affiliate was also Callaway Golf’s main ethics and compliance officer and corporate secretary.

Topgolf Callaway and Lynch did not answer to requests for remark.