Free Republic

In 2006 California’s Senate Bill 107 codified a requirement that by 2010 all electricity retailers in the state were to procure 20% of their electricity from “renewables.” That same year L.A. County Supervisor Michael Antonovich established Nuisance Abatement Teams that started combing the Mojave desert hitting isolated residents with ever-expanding lists of code violations, imposing whatever it took to drive residents out, and they made their intentions perfectly clear . . . . . . Apparently it is not enough that our green crony capitalists are getting billions in taxpayer subsidies, or that that rate-payers are forced to buy their...

In a flight test reminiscent of the early days of the historic X-15 program 50 years earlier, the X-51A Waverider was carried aloft for the first time over Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Wednesday, Dec. 9 by an Air Force Flight Test Center B-52H Stratofortress. The "captive carry" test was a key milestone in preparation for the X-51 to light its supersonic combustion ramjet engine and propel the WaverRider at hypersonic speed for about 5 minutes, before plunging into the Pacific Ocean. That flight test is currently planned in about two months, said Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager with the...

The US Air Force Research Laboratory's X-51A WaveRider scramjet engine demonstrator completed its first captive-carry flight under the wing of its B-52H mothership from Edwards AFB on Dec. 9. The first free flight is planned for mid-February. The B-52 climbed to the planned launch altitude of 50,000ft during a 1.4h flight that checked out systems and telemetry. The next flight, planned for mid-January, will be a full dress-rehearsal for the first of four planned X-51A hypersonic test flights. The Boeing-built X-51A will be released at 50,000ft over the Pacific and accelerated to Mach 4.5 by a solid rocket booster. The...

A test-firing of a high-energy laser beam aboard a modified Boeing 747 has been called a success, the Missile Defense Agency said. A team from Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin conducted the Airborne Laser (ABL) test Tuesday over the California High Desert. The laser was fired into an onboard calorimeter, which captured the beam and measured its power. The test is preparation for an upcoming demonstration in which the laser will be fired through a nose-mounted turret on the aircraft toward the target. In a test Aug. 10, a low-power laser beam hit an instrument-equipped missile. "This test shows...

EDWARDS AFB - A veteran Lockheed Martin test pilot died in an F-22A crash after nearly losing consciousness during a high-speed, high-g test maneuver, according to an Air Force accident investigation report released Friday. The $140 million jet, assigned to Edward Air Force Base's 412th Flight Test Wing, crashed during a mission to test the effects of carrying weapons on the aircraft's performance. These tests involved a series of high-speed, high-performance maneuvers in which the pilot experienced several times the force of gravity. The accident investigation concluded that Cooley experienced such disorientation brought on by the high g-forces, and recovered...

EDWARDS AFB - Some 120 representatives of solar energy firms turned out Tuesday to learn about an opportunity to lease as much as 3,280 acres of Edwards Air Force Base property for a solar power plant. The industry day, in which participants toured the site at the northwest corner of the base and learned about the lease procedures and project requirements, is the first step of a lengthy process that officials hope will result in a utility-grade solar power plant to supply energy to the public electrical grid. The project would operate under the Air Force's enhanced-use lease program, which...

PALMDALE - As even the chief test pilot admitted Friday, the concept of a flying wing bomber, an airplane without a tail or fuselage that would be invisible to radar, seemed impossible. But the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber proved them all wrong when the batwinged wonder took off for the first time from Northrop Grumman Corp.'s facility at Air Force Plant 42 on July 17, 1989. The moment marked "the dawn of a true revolution in air power," said Dave Mazur, Northrop Grumman's B-2 program manager. "It's an aircraft like no other." The bombers - and those who designed, built...

The latest version of the Global Hawk unmanned spy plane, equipped with more sophisticated and capable sensors, was unveiled Thursday to great fanfare by builder Northrop Grumman Corp. and the Air Force at the manufacturing site at Air Force Plant 42. "There's a demand that continues for unmanned systems, and we feel we're leading the way," said George Guerra, Northrop Grumman vice president of High Altitude Long Endurance Systems and site manager for unmanned systems. "Global Hawk has really transformed itself since it began as an advanced development concept in the mid-1990s," he said. "I believe Global Hawk is going...

The first phase of testing for the rocket motor that will propel SpaceShipTwo into space is successfully completed, officials announced Thursday. Spacecraft developer Scaled Composites and rocket motor subcontractor SpaceDev completed the first test firings of the hybrid nitrous oxide propulsion system at a San Clemente test site, according to a release by commercial spaceline operator Virgin Galactic. Once operational, Space­Ship­Two will carry paying passengers as high as 360,000 feet above the Earth, offering a few minutes of weightlessness so the six passengers can float about a roomy cabin. The carrier aircraft that will air-launch the rocket-powered SpaceShipTwo, the White­KnightTwo,...

MOJAVE - The newest denizens of the Mojave Air and Space Port are an impressive sight, even for an airport accustomed to a variety of flying machines. A quartet of F-16 fighter jets - soon to be joined by a fifth - have taken up residence in a hangar located at the center of the flightline, a stone's throw from the popular Voyager restaurant. The jets form the test fleet of a new enterprise at the airport, Calspan BicycleWorks , a firm specializing in flight test and rapid prototyping. The company was founded about a year ago by Paul Nafziger,...

MOJAVE - The ear-splitting chorus of enthusiasm from more than 700 elementary school students echoed Friday across the Mojave Air and Space Port, punctuated periodically by the "whoosh" of a model rocket launch as participants cheered their entries in the Intermediate Space Challenge. The annual challenge pits teams of fourth- through sixth-grade classes in a competition to build a model rocket that reaches the highest point during launches conducted in the culminating event at the airport. Teams also are judged on their essays written on futuristic space-based businesses, banners and marketing strategy and team spirit. Joshua Middle School in Mojave...

LANCASTER [California] - A 230-megawatt solar power facility has been proposed on 2,100 acres of fallow farmland 1½ miles north of the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve. Environmental studies overseen by Los Angeles County planning officials have started on the project, which is proposed at 170th Street West and Avenue D by San Francisco-based NextLight Renewable Power and which is planned to tie into Southern California Edison power lines that cross the Antelope Valley. A meeting to describe the proposal and to solicit suggestions from the public and local organizations on what environmental issues should be examined is scheduled for...

MOJAVE - In addition to being the home for cutting-edge aerospace development, the Mojave Air and Space Port has a history as a location for filming, one it plans to promote further. Staff from the East Kern Airport District, which governs the airport, recently visited the Association of Film Commissioners International Locations Trade Show in Santa Monica. The event provides a chance for filming locations to present their wares to potential customers. "We didn't see anybody that showcased what we have here," district finance director Erika Westawski said. "We have this niche that nobody addressed." The airport offers runways, taxiways,...

Note: The following text is a quote: DEA Task Force Targets Lancaster Street Gang APR 09 -- (LOS ANGELES) – On April 8, 2009, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Timothy J. Landrum, U.S. Attorney Thomas P. O’Brien and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca announced the culmination of a 12-month investigation targeting the drug trafficking activities of the Lancas 13 street gang. The Lancas 13 street gang is responsible for distributing methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine and marijuana throughout the Lancaster and Palmdale areas, and as far away as Ohio. This joint investigation has resulted in 97 arrests,...

MOJAVE - The unique, twin-fuselage WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft continued to expand the flight envelope with its third test flight, taking it higher, faster and for longer duration than the earlier two test flights. The aircraft is the prototype mothership for Virgin Galactic's nascent space tourism business, and will carry aloft the six-passenger SpaceShipTwo for suborbital spaceflights. In a two-and-a-half-hour test flight from the Mojave Air and Space Port on Wednesday, WhiteKnightTwo reached a maximum speed of 140 knots (161 mph) and reached an altitude of above 18,000 feet, according to a Virgin Galactic statement. The flight also successfully tested in-flight...

PALMDALE - The next step in hypersonic flight test is under development in a hangar at The Boeing Co.'s facility at Air Force Plant 42. The unmanned X-51A "Wave­Rider" is a scramjet engine flight demonstrator, expected to provide flight test data at speeds beyond Mach 6 - about one mile per second - using its unique engine design. In a scramjet - or supersonic combustion ramjet - engine, air is scooped into the engine duct, then forced through a combustion chamber, where fuel is mixed in and ignited. This produces energy, which is forced out the rear of the engine...

EDWARDS AFB - A veteran Lockheed Martin pilot was killed Wednesday when an F-22A fighter jet on a test mission from Edwards Air Force Base crashed near a desert gunnery range 35 miles northeast of Edwards. David Cooley, 49, of Lancaster, a Gulf War veteran who had been a Lockheed Martin test pilot since 2003 and before that spent 21 years in the Air Force, was taken by rescue crews to Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville, where he was pronounced dead. Cooley's death was Edwards' first in a test flight in eight years. "This is a very difficult day...

A fascinating mix of start-ups and success-stories are flying out of the Mojave Air And Space Port. Enterprising pioneers Burt Rutan, Dave Masten, Rick Searfoss and others share their enthusiasm for Mojave.

While national home sales plummeted to their worst levels in 12 years, the Antelope Valley bucked the trend and saw its numbers soar well into triple-digit gains. High desert home sales began the new year with a sizzling start, rising 238% in January over January 2008, while the nation as a whole saw its home sales drop 8.6%. For the nation, it was the weakest sales showing since July 1997. "It's location, location, location - to put it in the simplest terms," Sam Hare, a past president of the Greater Antelope Valley Association of Realtors, said of the difference between...

EDWARDS AFB - The base that first broke the sound barrier is once again pushing the boundaries of flight test, this time with sustained flight at hypersonic speeds. The Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base is responsible for the upcoming flight test of the X-51, a vehicle designed to travel at speeds greater than five times the speed of sound. The project takes on special meaning as no hypersonic project has made it to the flight test phase in a number of years, he said. The last one - also from Edwards - was NASA's X-43A,...

EDWARDS AFB - After a two-year hiatus, the Edwards Air Force Base Open House and Air Show returns this fall. The popular event will return in a two-day format on Oct. 17 and 18. Base officials decided against having the event the past two years while the main base runway was undergoing reconstruction. The open house and air show typically takes place in October and is one chance for the base - home to the world's premier flight test center - to open its gates to the general public and demonstrate its strengths and role in military testing and flight...

PALMDALE - Employment at Air Force Plant 42 picked up during the last six months of 2008, thanks primarily to hiring at Northrop Grumman Corp. That hiring trend is expected to continue as the company ramps up development of the Navy's unmanned demonstrator aircraft, the X-47B, and production of the F-35 joint strike fighter. "We did hit our staffing target last year; however, we're still looking to add another 500 people by the end of the year," Northrop spokesman Jim Hart said. The Air Force production flight test facility reported employment of 7,039 at the various contractor sites, up from...

LANCASTER [California] - In "The Wizard of Oz," the Tin Man sought a heart from the wizard. Lancaster High School's Tin Man already has dozens, however. The 43 members of the Eagle Robotics team, together with many more advisers, mentors and parents, demonstrate that it takes more than brains and courage to build a successful program shaping the leaders of tomorrow. It takes a lot of heart, too. The Tin Man, the team's most recent robotic creation that was unveiled to the public Thursday, is only one physical manifestation of the team's prodigious efforts. The wider effects are seen throughout...

MOJAVE - The Mojave Air and Space Port is positioning itself to receive any construction funds from a proposed federal economic stimulus package. "If they're going to throw money around, maybe we can get some," General Manager Stu Witt told the East Kern Airport District directors during their Feb. 3 meeting. The airport regularly prepares "shovel-ready" construction projects in order to take advantage of additional federal grant funds sometimes available at the end of each fiscal year. This preparation may pay off should stimulus funding come available. One project the airport has requested for several years is to construct a...

MOJAVE - The Mojave Air and Space Port's singular development planning process will be the subject of a new promotional video intended to aid prospective tenants. A $10,000 contract to produce the video was approved by the East Kern Airport District directors Tuesday on a 4-1 vote, with director Dick Rutan dissenting. The district has a precise development plan, approved by Kern County, which governs future development at the airport. By applying this plan, developers can bypass the often lengthy process of applying through the Kern County Planning Department. In effect, the airport district is its own planning department, providing...

EDWARDS AFB - Within a darkened chamber, a small, cylindrical contraption suddenly shoots aloft on a pulsing plume of flame, hovering in the air while smaller flames shoot from the cylinder's sides and send it sideways. In seconds, the flames burn out and the device falls to a bouncy landing on the netting below. The video clip looks as though it could be a rough cut of a science fiction film, but in reality it is a recent test of the Multiple Kill Vehicle-L, one of the latest weapons intended to defend against ballistic missile attack under development for the...

supersonic aircraft is nearing completion at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center. The project uses the center's unique, modified F-15B to gauge the effects of changing the lift surfaces and engine nozzles on the shock waves created in supersonic flight. It is these shock waves that create the signature sonic booms heard on the ground when a supersonic airplane flies overhead. Supersonic jets are prevented by law from flying over land, except in specially designated corridors, due to the discomfort and noise of the resultant sonic booms. Quieting these sonic booms could lead to supersonic aircraft that may fly cross-country and...

PALMDALE - They may not be rose-covered, but they will certainly be attractions during Thursday's Tournament of Roses Parade and the Rose Bowl. Twin B-2 stealth bombers arrived Tuesday in Palmdale from their home at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri in preparation for their featured roles in the New Year's Day festivities. One bomber will fly over Colorado Boulevard to open the morning's parade, while the second will punctuate the National Anthem before the start of the football game that afternoon. The batwing bombers are enjoying a homecoming of sorts, making Northrop Grumman Corp.'s facility at Air Force Plant...

From the nation's first jet aircraft to the first to break the sound barrier; from the first spacecraft to make a runway landing to the first privately funded spacecraft to rocket out of the atmosphere, the region's aerospace legacy tells the story of the Jet Age and the Space Age. The Valley's long tradition of striving to extend the cutting edge of aerospace continues today, from the defense industry giants at Air Force Plant 42 to the heirs of the "Right Stuff" pilots at Edwards Air Force Base to the paradigm-busting space entrepreneurs at Mojave Air and Space Port. With...

When the California Space Authority annually honors those within the state who have contributed to space enterprise during the past year, the Antelope Valley is sure to make an appearance. This year was no different, as awards were presented to two area entities during the ceremonies on Nov. 19 in Los Angeles. The Antelope Valley Board of Trade was honored for its efforts in the Business Development and Retention category, while Mojave-based The Spaceship Co. won the award for Commercial Space endeavors. "The greater Antelope Valley is integral to the California space enterprise community," said Eric Daniels, CSA's director of...

EDWARDS AFB - The students at the Air Force Test Pilot School at Edwards Air Force Base have a new tool in their educational efforts, one that can benefit the Air Force and research institutions as well. The Reconfigurable Airborne Sensor, Communication and Laser - or RASCAL - pod provides a means of easily installing new instruments and technologies on board aircraft for flight testing. The pod, with the test instrumentation installed inside, attaches beneath the wing of an F-16 or other aircraft using the same connections for exterior weapons such as missiles. This standard connection provides versatility and ease...

EDWARDS AFB - Forty years ago NASA pilot Bill Dana made the final flight of the X-15, marking the end of the line for what many consider to be the most successful research airplane in history. How the program team responded to this adversity provides lessons for today's research and space exploration efforts, author Dennis Jenkins said Friday. Jenkins, author of "X-15: Extending the Frontiers of Flight," NASA's definitive history of the program, discussed the trials and triumphs of the X-15 at Dryden Flight Research Center before an appreciative crowd that included many of the program's original participants. The event...

EDWARDS AFB - The brief yet productive visit here by the nation's newest fighter is but a taste of things to come as the Air Force Flight Test Center prepares to host the F-35 Lightning II flight test program. The first F-35 test aircraft, dubbed AA-1, arrived at Edwards on Oct. 1 following the model's first cross-country flight from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics production facility in Fort Worth. After three weeks of successful flight tests, it is scheduled to return to Texas today . The F-35 will be a major program for the Antelope Valley, employing hundreds of people in...

MOJAVE - Following multiple flights by XCOR Aerospace's rocket-powered airplane last week, the Mojave Air and Space Port now holds the unofficial record of more than half the manned rocket-powered vehicle flights in the 21st century. Following the XCOR flights, the facility has accounted for some 59 manned, rocket-powered vehicle flights, suborbital and orbital, or 51.3% of such flights worldwide since Jan. 1, 2001. The worldwide total includes 22 space shuttle flights from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida and 15 launches from Russia's Kazakhstan-located facilities, Baikonur, according to company officials. Mojave's total includes SpaceShipOne's three suborbital flights in 2004...

PALMDALE - NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory captured a unique light show recently, as scientists used the aerial platform to study the disintegration of a spacecraft as it re-entered Earth's atmosphere from orbit. The European Space Agency's "Jules Verne" automated transfer vehicle, the first of a planned series of autonomous spacecraft designed to resupply and re-boost the international space station, returned early Sept. 29 at the conclusion of its six-month maiden mission. The European agency teamed up with NASA to take advantage of the unique opportunity provided by the planned re-entry to study how objects disintegrate and burn up when encountering...

LANCASTER [California] - During the Vietnam War, Soviet-made surface-to-air-missiles used by the North Vietnamese forces inflicted heavy casualties on U.S. aircraft. To counter this threat, the Air Force and the defense industry came together to quickly develop a means of identifying and disabling the SAM sites. Industry was able to develop electronic means of detecting the radar signals coming from the missile sites. In operation this meant sending in two-seat fighter aircraft, with an electronic warfare officer in the rear seat, to entice the missile sites to light up their radars, thus giving away their position for the strike aircraft...

LANCASTER [CALIFORNIA]- For the men and women flown in to the Antelope Valley to accept a little marble-and-brass immortality on the Lancaster Aerospace Walk of Honor, flying is all it was ever about. Each of those attending Saturday's ceremonies expressed love for the bright sunshine and clear blue skies over Edwards Air Force Base. Each knew the joy of the high-flying exploits best described in Tom Wolfe's classic of narrative journalism, "The Right Stuff," which celebrated the calculated cool, courage and humor of test pilots and astronauts. Ask retired Col. Joe Schiele. He piloted the C-141 Starlifter jet transport on...

From the desert skies above Edwards Air Force Base to orbit around the moon, the five test pilots recognized by the city in the latest additions to the Aerospace Walk of Honor have made their marks in aviation history. Original Mercury 7 astronaut Leroy Gordon "Gordo" Cooper Jr.; Apollo 11 command module pilot Michael Collins; and the first female space shuttle commander, retired Air Force Col. Eileen M. Collins, will add their names to the 90 already honored with plaques along Lancaster Boulevard. The three astronauts will be joined by test pilots Irving L. "Irv" Burrows, who piloted the first...

PALMDALE - NASA's DC-8 flying laboratory recently returned from patrolling the Arctic Circle as part of a study about the formation of polar ice. The DC-8...was dispatched to Kiruna in northern Sweden for a three-week mission as part of the Arctic Mechanisms of Interaction Between the Surface and Atmosphere mission. The mission was a NASA Earth Sciences program in support of the International Polar Year science project. In a series of flights over arctic ice between Sweden and Greenland, the aircraft's instruments were used to collect data regarding climate meteorology, part of a study of how weather patterns may affect...

Already at the cutting edge of aerospace technology development, the Mojave Air and Space Port is investigating using the latest means of spreading its message through a high-definition, interactive video-based Web site. The project was proposed to the directors of the East Kern Airport District, which governs the airport, at their Tuesday meeting. The air and space port is the frequent subject of news articles worldwide, owing to its position at the forefront of the emerging personal spaceflight industry. Officials are also regularly contacted by businesses interested in locating to the site. General Manager Stu Witt remarked that the airport...

Passengers will have twice as many flights to choose from at L.A./Palmdale Regional Airport starting Wednesday, as United Airlines moves to a more frequent flight schedule using smaller, 30-passenger airplanes. The expanded schedule, with four flights daily between Palmdale and San Francisco, will allow passengers nearly double the number of connecting flights from San Francisco International Airport. The change is an effort to meet passenger's requests for increased schedule flexibility and should better meet the needs of government, military and business travelers, officials said. Airport Manager Robert Gluck said the change was "driven by the business community." Businesspeople were finding...

It may not be apparent from the outside, but activity at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics' facility in Palmdale is increasing. With work on the F-22 and F-35 fighters ramping up, the company is seeking some 100 experienced hourly employees for positions such as mechanics, machinists and composite technicians, said Lockheed spokeswoman Dianne Knippel. The hirings come despite the retirement of the F-117 stealth fighter, the last of which left Palmdale for storage in Nevada on Aug. 11. During the course of the fighter's nearly 30-year history, Lockheed's Palmdale site was home to modifications and upgrades to the fleet, as well as...

Giant shape-shifting robots invaded the Antelope Valley this week as a production crew for "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" shot scenes for the action sequel at a Palmdale quarry. The crew arrived Monday and was slated to stay through today, filming at Service Rock Quarry, at Palmdale Boulevard and 75th Street East, and at Antelope Valley Aggregate on Avenue T in Littlerock. The quarry is doubling as an excavation site in an action sequence featuring a helicopter, pyrotechnic explosions, wind machines, debris and gunfire. "Transformers" crew members are occupying a large base camp with rows of trailers, trucks and cars,...

EDWARDS AFB - Engineers at NASA Dryden Flight Research Center are testing extremely small sensors - about the diameter of a human hair - to monitor changes in an airplane wing's shape during flight, hoping to harness the information to improve aircraft efficiency and safety by controlling the changes. "We want to be able to change the shape of a wing," said Lance Richards, Dryden's Advanced Structures and Measurement group lead. "The first step in changing the shape of a wing is knowing the shape." The fiber-optic sensors, unlike traditional sensors and strain gauges, are extremely lightweight and are small...

The Air Force is preparing to test an unmanned spacecraft in orbit, with a launch scheduled for December. The X-37B is designed to perform long-duration testing in low-Earth orbit of new technologies. The unmanned vehicle will carry experiments into space, then return with them to Earth. The vehicle... operates autonomously in orbit and for re-entry and landing. This first orbital flight test of the vehicle will be used to determine the capabilities of the craft, said an Air Force spokesman, Lt. Col. Mark Brown. It is part of a former NASA program that was cut as the space agency focused...

MOJAVE - Nearly four years after British mogul Sir Richard Branson announced he intended to fly paying passengers into space, the first step in a new era of commercial space travel was unveiled Monday at the Mojave Air and Space Port. WhiteKnightTwo, the prototype mothership for Virgin Galactic commercial passenger spaceline, was revealed before international media, aerospace enthusiasts and assorted dignitaries. "This is quite something, isn't it?" Branson, the Virgin Group founder, asked those gathered, calling WhiteKnightTwo "one of the most beautiful and extraordinary aviation vehicles ever developed." Designed and built by Scaled Composites, the Mojave firm founded by aviation...

MOJAVE - The much-anticipated debut of the next step toward sending private citizens into space will take place Monday at the Mojave Air and Space Port, the same site where the first small steps in that direction were made four years ago. The WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft will roll out of the Scaled Composites hangar before an invitation-only crowd of international media, officials and those who have already purchased their $200,000 tickets for a ride into space. The first of Virgin Galactic spaceline's hardware to debut, WhiteKnightTwo is the much larger successor to the White Knight which air-launched SpaceShipOne to three...

These aren't the 300 Spartans you heard about from Greek myth or the movies. They are the nearly 300 Spartan combat support truckers of the National Guard who are on their way back to Iraq. The 1498th Transportation Co., nicknamed "The Spartans," departs today from March Air Reserve Base for its ultimate destination, a staging area in Kuwait designed for supporting missions into Iraq. ... On Tuesday the largest California Guard unit to deploy during the initial phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom got ready to redeploy to the Middle East, with 18 or so of its original members making the...

MOJAVE - The typical sounds of jet and piston airplane engines at the Mojave Air and Space Port have been joined in recent weeks by a different kind of flightline noise: the roar and sudden quiet of a rocket engine. XCOR Aerospace has performed a series of flight tests of its second-generation rocket plane designed for the Rocket Racing League, demonstrating its capability to start and stop the engine as well as the airframe's aerobatic potential. The most recent aerial demonstration took place Thursday afternoon. The airplane, a modified Velocity Aircraft kit airplane with a liquid oxygen- and kerosene-fueled rocket...

While many people in the Antelope Valley will spend the Fourth of July celebrating their independence with barbecues, beer, music and cheer, some members of the Blue Star Mothers will think of their sons and daughters still fighting for freedom overseas. Blue Star Mothers of America Inc. is a nonprofit organization with chapters throughout the nation comprising women whose children are serving or have served in the military. Members offer each other emotional support and support the troops by sending cards, letters and care packages filled with snack foods, toiletries and sometimes items such as paperback books or a deck...