Rob Preston, head of finance at the Virgin Group arm, is moving on to an undisclosed company in a few months, a Virgin Galactic spokeswoman said.

The news of his departure came days after the Virgin Group unveiled the WhiteKnightTwo, the carrier rocket which will ferry the SpaceShipTwo craft and thousands of the world’s richest people into sub-orbital space.

Preston was closely involved in the rollout of the WhiteknightTwo, which ‘represents another major milestone in Virgin Galactic’s quest to launch the world’s first private, environmentally benign, space access system for people, payload and science,’ the company said.

Virgin Galactic’s new FD will be in charge of keeping the budget for the ambitious project in check, which will now focus on 12-18 months of test flights before the commercial trips take place.