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... He said: "We would love to finish what we started some years ago and I think pretty well all our astronauts would love us to finish and would love to go into space. "I think millions of people in the world would one day love the chance to go to space and this is the start of a long programme."

[I]n the desert north of Los Angeles, a gigantic, six-engined megajet with the wingspan of an American football field flew Saturday morning for the first time. Stratolaunch Systems, the company founded in 2011 ... conducted the first test flight of the world's largest plane. Stratolaunch aircraft is a giant flying launch pad, designed to hurtle satellites into low Earth orbit. It aims to offer the military, private companies and even NASA itself a more economical way to get into space. The aircraft's wingspan measures 385 feet -- wider than any airplane on the planet. From tip to tail, it's 238...

The statement didn’t specify what it meant by “space altitude,” but company officials have previously said they were using the altitude of 50 miles, or approximately 80 kilometers, used by NASA and the U.S. Air Force for awarding astronaut wings. “For Virgin Galactic, the major milestone that we perceive is the altitude at which NASA and Air Force folks get their astronaut wings, which is 50 miles,” George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, said last month. “For us and our customers, I think we’ll be focused on 50 miles, at least at the start.” That is below the 100-kilometer...

The colossal Stratolaunch carrier plane rolled out of its hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, today (May 31) to undergo fueling tests. It's the first public look at the full craft —which is designed to launch rockets into orbit from the sky — since construction began. "We're excited to announce that Stratolaunch aircraft has reached a major milestone in its journey toward providing convenient, reliable, and routine access to low-Earth orbit," Stratolaunch Systems Corp. CEO Jean Floyd said in a statement. "This marks the completion of the initial aircraft-construction phase and the beginning of the...

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 - 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,...

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.

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...

MOJAVE - The East Kern Airport District directors approved in principle a plan to add a small live steam railroad to the Legacy Park under development at the Mojave Air and Space Port. The railroad is proposed by the Mojave Transportation Museum as a tourist attraction and means of conveying the community's long history as a railroad town. "We just saw it as a wonderful opportunity for tourism," said Cathy Hansen, museum board member and airport district director. Hansen abstained from the district directors' 4-0 vote on the proposal. The proposed railroad track would circle the park area. It could...

MOJAVE - Businesses at the Mojave Air and Space Port are receiving notices for a tax on their facilities for which they previously had not been billed. Kern County is stepping up its collection of possessory interest taxes, evaluating which businesses at the airport qualify and calculating the value of those businesses. The possessory interest tax applies when a private party is given exclusive use of a publicly owned property for private benefit. Because the Mojave Air and Space Port is government-owned - by the East Kern Airport District - and the hangars and other facilities are leased for the...

The Mojave Air and Space Port is bringing in a Washington lobbyist to consult on its efforts to resolve issues regarding its spaceport license with the Federal Aviation Administration. The board of directors of the East Kern Airport District, which governs the spaceport, approved a six-month agreement with James Muncy of Polispace at $1,000 per month. The agreement may be extended if needed. The facility, the first inland spaceport to be licensed by the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, recently received an amended launch site operator's license after months of discussions regarding the facility's plans for safely storing and...

The Mojave Air and Space Port received an amendment to its spaceport license from the Federal Aviation Administration on Thursday, averting a possible loss of the license. "This came as a pleasant surprise," General Manager Stu Witt told the East Kern Airport District directors during a special meeting Thursday. The district governs the Mojave Air and Space Port. Airport officials still need to analyze the document to determine the full effect on operations at the nation's first inland spaceport. "Some of the terms and conditions have far-reaching operational implications and require mathematical analysis," Witt said in an e-mail to reporters....

MOJAVE - The nation's first inland spaceport could lose that designation by the end of the year. The Federal Aviation Administration informed officials at the Mojave Air and Space Port of its intention to suspend or revoke the space launch site operator's license Dec. 31. "I have no reason to be optimistic we're going to keep our spaceport license," said General Manager Stu Witt, reporting on the issue to the East Kern Airport District board of directors Tuesday. The district governs the Mojave Air and Space Port. At issue are questions by the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation regarding...

MOJAVE - A Mojave-built rocket engine completed its first test series for NASA under a program to aid the agency's quest to return to the moon, Alliant Techsystems announced Friday. Alliant said it has completed testing of a 7,500-pound-force thrust liquid oxygen-methane workhorse engine. The test series provided valuable insights into LOX-methane engine ignition, startup, shutdown, nominal operation, off-nominal operation and dynamic combustion stability, according to the company. The work was conducted as part of a NASA effort to develop technologies that could be incorporated into a propulsion system for the ascent stage of a lunar lander. "The workhorse engine...

MOJAVE - Nearly three months after the fatal explosion at a rocket test site at the Mojave Air and Space Port, the investigation into its cause continues while the facility and its tenants have instituted new safety procedures in hopes of preventing such an accident - or at least lessening its impact - in the future. The July 26 explosion occurred during what was described as routine cold-testing of a nitrous oxide propellent system for Scaled Composites' SpaceShipTwo, a suborbital spacecraft under development for space tourism company Virgin Galactic. Scaled employees Eric Blackwell, 38, of Randsburg; Charles "Glen" May, 45,...

Mojave Air and Space Port officials are seeking a means of properly balancing the civilian flight test facility's traditional freedom for a variety of test activities with its responsibility to be prepared to respond should something go wrong during that testing. The issue has come to the forefront following two accidental explosions in the past few months. The most recent explosion resulted in three deaths. The first accident, in early June, was in an explosives storage area and did not directly involve any test activities. No one was injured in that blast. The second occurred in late July, when three...

MOJAVE - An explosion and subsequent fire in an explosive materials storage area at the Mojave Air and Space Port on Sunday morning shut down airfield operations for some 22 hours. No one was injured in the incident. The explosion, in a remote section of the northeast airport property, was reported shortly before noon Sunday, said Bob Rice, airfield operations director. The area is far from the flightline and airport structures for that very reason. "That's where you want to store explosives," he said. Airport personnel, together with fire and hazardous material teams from Edwards Air Force Base, Kern County...

MOJAVE - The Mojave Air and Space Port has completed a runway extension project that will pave the way for heavy cargo flights into and out of the airport. The project was funded through Federal Aviation Administration and Caltrans grants, along with matching funds from the East Kern Airport District, which governs the airport. The extension brings the runway length to 12,500 feet, making it the longest nonfederal runway in Kern County, according to airport officials. It was declared open for use by the Caltrans Division of Aeronautics on Dec. 5. The longer runway will make possible long-haul freight flights,...

MOJAVE - In four years, Mojave Airport has gone from an under-utilized airport and civilian flight test facility to a spaceport with a worldwide reputation as a "Silicon Valley" for the emerging commercial space industry. New companies are arriving and established tenants are seeing their contracts and payrolls grow. Companies such as Scaled Composites - which won international acclaim for SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded, manned space program - and XCOR Aerospace are among the cutting-edge aerospace firms outgrowing their existing facilities as they add employees and projects. All the airport's available facilities are occupied, and desires have been expressed...