SpaceX employees haven't gone to space. Just NASA astronauts on SpaceX rockets. And this privately paid for mission coming up.

I don't think it's the CEO's job to be a test pilot. I think that's pretty crazy actually.

I know someone who is a test pilot. He's trained a long time to do it. You want someone in the craft that is an expert at both piloting spacecraft and the engineering of the craft. Musk is certainly no pilot and the job of CEO does not require you to have those skills.

It could be argued that since these systems are fully automated that you don't need anyone with special skills there. But being a programmer I don't trust software for every situation. So I sure think if you are going to put a person on it, they should be able to intervene if needed. There should be a purpose to their risk.

None of these CEOs have been test pilots-- rather, test passengers.

I think it's worth pointing out that Virgin is literally trying to enable space tourism, which is just a side effect for SpaceX. Branson was testing and advertising his product, Elon would be taking valuable time away from his mission.

Of course not. His role is CEO. The test pilots' role is test pilot. He's not a test pilot, so he shouldn't be expected to pretend to be one.

His employees haven’t got in those rockets either.