Posted on Sun, Sep. 26, 2004
'A tunnel to the moon'
Next step to future will be taken in desert outpost
By BOB KEEFECOX NEWS SERVICE

MOJAVE, Calif. - The Mojave Airport is an unassuming collection of old runways and dusty tin buildings. Planes and parts of planes - fighter jets, crop dusters, outdated commercial airliners - sit like ghosts in a desert graveyard.

The little airport has no regular passenger traffic, but it's becoming known as the hub for space travel's future.

On Wednesday, the first commercial rocket ever piloted by a non-military astronaut is scheduled to take a second brief trip from Mojave to beyond the Earth's atmosphere.
SpaceShipOne, as it's called, made its maiden voyage to the stars from here in June, helping reignite a worldwide interest in private space travel that has been compared to beginning of commercial flight.

Rocket companies abound

But the company that built SpaceShipOne, Scaled Composites Inc., is only one of several rocket designers here shooting for the stars.

Not far from Scaled Composites is Xcor Aerospace Inc., which is building rocket engines it hopes to sell to commercial space companies. Also nearby is Interorbital Systems, which is offering promotional $250,000 tickets for a week in space orbit, even though its first ship isn't expected to be complete before 2006. Space Launch Corp., meanwhile, is building a rocket plane that could be used to launch small satellites.

In all, nine companies are working on space-related projects at Mojave, according to airport officials.

Those who have been to the airport known to pilots as "Mojo" say it really does have a lot going for it.

"You never expect by looking at it that this is where the next space age is being born, but it is," said George Whitesides, executive director of the National Space Society, a Washington, D.C. group that promotes civilian space travel. "It's a very special place that I think history is going to remember."

What makes the 1940s-era former naval air station 100 miles north of Los Angeles the place to be is "location, location, location," said airport manager Stuart Witt, echoing the old real estate mantra.

Perfect weather for flying
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