 |
Flying into
Mojave Spaceport ! |
 |
Scaled Composites' Proteus taxing in at
Mojave Air and Spaceport
|
Best time of the year to go? |
Fall though Spring |
|
Flight time in a Super Viking from KAJO? |
0.6 |
|
Food on the airport? |
Yes, above average airport
fare |
|
Fuel on airport? |
Yes |
|
Comments about arriving and departing |
Be careful of the restricted
airspace surrounding Edwards AFB. |
Rate this trip
10 being best, 5 being average. |
8.0 Get a tour of the bone
yard while you're there. Call the airport manager ahead of
time. |
|
|
Landing at the
Mojave Air and Spaceport ! |
|
The Mojave Airport & Spaceport, also known as
the Civilian Aerospace Test Center, is the first facility to be
licensed in the
United States for horizontal
launches of
reusable spacecraft, being
certified as a
spaceport by the
Federal Aviation Administration on
June 17,
2004. It is the only spaceport from
which there have been privately-funded
human spaceflights.
Besides being a general-use public airport,
Mojave has three main areas of activity, flight testing, space
industry development, and aircraft heavy maintenance and storage.
Beginning with the
Rotary Rocket program, Mojave
became a focus for small companies seeking a place to develop space
access technologies. Mojave Spaceport has been a test site for
several teams in the
Ansari X Prize, most notably
SpaceShipOne, which conducted the first privately funded human
sub-orbital flight on
June 21, 2004. Other groups based
at the Mojave Spaceport include
XCOR Aerospace,
Masten Space Systems,
Orbital Sciences Corporation, and
Interorbital Systems.
The Mojave airport is also known as a storage
location for commercial airliners. Numerous large
Boeing,
McDonnell Douglas,
Lockheed, and
Airbus aircraft owned by major
airlines are stored at Mojave. Some aircraft reach the end of their
useful lifetime and are scrapped at Mojave, while others are
refurbished and returned to active service.
I would be lying if I didn't say this was my
first spaceport landing.
|
|
Pictures
from Mojave Airport |
|
 |
Scaled Composites White
Knight Two. I took these pictures on the ramp at Mojave Air
and Space Port. You never know what you're going to see at
this airport.
|
 |
Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) in the
Hangar |
 |
PR picture, I didn't take this one. |
 |
747's in the bone yard. |
 |
Other air carriers in the
bone yard being stripped for parts. |
 |
A very modified DC-9.
Besides the nose note the antennas top and bottom. The plane
is registered to the US Navy.
|
 |
|
 |
Call the airport manager
ahead of time and and arrange for a tour of the bone yard. |
 |
|
 |
One is never to good to fly
a Cessna 150. Look up the N number and yes he was flying it. |
 |
|
|
|
|
