MOJAVE, Calif. – This dusty aerospace outpost on the northern edge of Edwards Air Force Base, the home of the mythical “right stuff,” aspires to be the next big thing in commercial space transportation.
The Mojave Air and Space Port, a converted U.S. Marine Corps air station, is quickly becoming a hot bed for aerospace and energy R&D. It also holds the distinction of being the first U.S. facility to be licensed by the Federal Aviation Administration for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft. Among the aerospace firsts here was the 2004 flight of SpaceShipOne, the suborbital air-launched space plane.
Over 40 enterprises operate out of the space port, including commercial space transportation, flight research and renewable energy companies focusing on solar and wind technologies. The mountains ringing the area are filled with wind turbines. The space port is also the home of the nation’s only civilian test pilot school.
The slide show that follows includes a tour of the space port and nearby Edwards Air Force Base located northeast of Los Angeles in the great California desert.
The entrance to the Mojave Space Port showing what is so far its biggest contributions to commercial space transportation, SpaceShipOne. Development by the company Scaled Composites was funded mostly by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.
Jeff Greason, a former Intel manufacturing manager, founded XCOR Aerospace in 1999 to develop commercial spacecraft that can carry passengers as well as payloads to the edge of space. Greason is seen here with a mobile engine test stand and other hardware being developed for XCOR’s Lynx space plane.
The aircraft “bone yard” at the Mojave Space Port, where aging aircraft will be reduced to scrap metal. The California and Nevada deserts are filled with aircraft bone yards as airlines switch to more fuel efficient planes.
One of many solar arrays that can be seen throughout the Mojave Desert. Rotary Rocket’s Roton test vehicle can be seen in the background.
The Mojave Spaceport also includes a small airport with a restaurant filled with memorabilia from the heyday of flight testing. Some of the most famous experimental aircraft make up the cover of the airport restaurant menu. (Tip: order the fish tacos.)
Pictured is the U.S. Air Force/NASA B-52 used for drop tests of a range of rocket-powered aircraft, including the X-15 rocket plane that was flown to the edge of space. The converted strategic bomber is parked at the east gate of Edwards Air Force Base, the home of America’s test flight school from which many U.S. astronauts graduated.
A cartoon on the fuselage of the B-52 depicts the aircraft’s mission to launch the X-15 rocket plane. But the plane also has been used to launch many other experimental aircraft along with current U.S. fighter jets.
Just as World War II pilots recorded the number of enemy aircraft they shot down, the pilots of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center B-52 recorded each experimental flight test. The X-15 rocket plane was launched from this aircraft 140 times.
The guts of a B-52, as seen from under the front landing gear of the eight-engine strategic bomber.
The End.
-30-
Leave a Reply
You must Register or Login to post a comment.