CHAPTER 04 / MOJAVE’S SPACE AGE
BEYOND
THE RUNWAY.
INTO SPACE.
From Rotary Rocket and XCOR to Space Ship One, Space Ship Two, and the companies building tomorrow — Mojave became a proving ground for private spaceflight.
THE MOJAVE SPACE STORY
THE DESERT
THAT SAID WHY NOT?
Long before commercial spaceflight was familiar, engineers at Mojave were building vehicles that challenged the boundary between airplane and spacecraft. Radical designs lived alongside flight-test hangars, aircraft maintenance, and the people who put unproven ideas into the sky.
Some ventures succeeded. Some ended early. Together they made Mojave an enduring home for experimental aerospace technology and private-space ambition.
01 / THE RISE OF PRIVATE SPACEFLIGHT
AN IMPOSSIBLE
IDEA BECAME REAL.
Explore the pioneers, test vehicles and record-breaking achievements that made Mojave Air & Space Port central to the New Space story.
EARLY EXPERIMENTATION
ROTARY ROCKET / ROTON
An audacious reusable spacecraft concept, combining rocket propulsion with a rotor-based descent concept. The Roton Atmospheric Test Vehicle made tethered and low-altitude flight tests; the larger orbital dream remained unrealized. Its surviving test vehicle is displayed at Mojave’s Legacy Park.
ROCKET-POWERED REUSABILITY
XCOR / EZ-ROCKET
XCOR Aerospace first flew the EZ-Rocket at Mojave in July 2001. The simple rocket aircraft explored rapid, repeatable operations, helping demonstrate a different approach to flight-test vehicles.
READ THE AIRPORT HISTORY ↗RESEARCH
THE WORLD TAKES NOTICE
SPACE SHIP ONE
Built by Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan’s rocket-powered Space Ship One became the first privately developed crewed spacecraft to reach space. Carried aloft by White Knight and released for its suborbital ascent, the program won the Ansari X Prize in 2004.
SEE THE MILESTONE ↗
THE COMMERCIAL SUCCESSOR
SPACE SHIP TWO
Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites unveiled the first Space Ship Two in Mojave. The larger vehicle built upon the air-launch architecture pioneered by Space Ship One and went on to a demanding test program, including flights from Mojave.
EXPLORE THE UNVEILING ↗AN ECOSYSTEM IN MOTION
THE NEXT GENERATION
Mojave’s airport business listings feature space-focused firms such as Vast, Impulse Space, Astrobotic Technology, Interorbital Systems, Evolution Space, and others, alongside major aircraft and aerospace test organizations.
IS HERE
02 / THE MACHINES THAT MADE HISTORY
THREE ICONS.
ONE DESERT.
Space Ship One, Space Ship Two and Rotary Rocket embody different chapters of the Mojave space story. These photographs are individually replaceable in the WordPress Customizer.
SPACE SHIP ONE
A small rocket plane. A landmark achievement in 2004.
SPACE SHIP TWO
A new generation designed for piloted commercial suborbital flights.
ROTARY ROCKET
The improbable Roton vehicle, preserved at Mojave’s Legacy Park.
ARCHIVAL PHOTOS: SPACE SHIP ONE / PUBLIC-DOMAIN IMAGE; SPACE SHIP TWO / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS; ROTON / ALAN RADECKI, CC BY-SA.
03 / MISSION VISUALIZATION
FOLLOW THE
FLIGHT PATH.
From carrier aircraft to rocket-powered climb and back to the runway. Select a spacecraft to animate its characteristic suborbital flight profile.
SPACE SHIP ONE
THE PRIVATE
SPACE BREAKTHROUGH.
White Knight carried Space Ship One to altitude. After release, a rocket burn sent it into a suborbital arc. The craft then descended and returned in gliding flight.
SPACE SHIP TWO
A NEW GENERATION
OF AIR LAUNCH.
Virgin’s White Knight Two aircraft carried the larger Space Ship Two for release, powered flight and glide return. The idea grew from Mojave’s earlier experimental air-launch breakthroughs.
04 / THE ECOSYSTEM AT RUTAN FIELD
THE COMPANIES
BEHIND TOMORROW.
Explore the commercial space, flight-testing and aerospace organizations represented in the airport’s published business and mission-partner lists.
VIRGIN GALACTIC
Commercial human spaceflight and the Space Ship Two lineage.
SCALED COMPOSITES
Experimental aircraft and the engineering team behind Space Ship One.
STRATOLAUNCH SYSTEMS
Giant carrier aircraft and hypersonic flight-test systems.
VAST
Commercial space-station development and systems integration.
IMPULSE SPACE
Space transportation and spacecraft propulsion technology.
INTERORBITAL SYSTEMS
Small-launch vehicle and spacecraft ambitions.
ASTROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY
Lunar and robotic space technology.
ATLAS SPACE OPERATIONS
Spaceflight ground-network and operational support.
EVOLUTION SPACE
Launch and propulsion engineering.
ABL SPACE SYSTEMS
Space launch vehicle and related aerospace development.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN
Aircraft and aerospace systems development.
FLIGHT RESEARCH / NTPS
Test-pilot training and advanced flight-test services.
MORE AIRPORT-LISTED ORGANIZATIONS
Aerospace Operations · Ares Industries · ASB Avionics · BAE Systems · Bragg Companies · Cambium · Dyno Nobel · Flight Test Aerospace · Gauntlet Aerospace · Incotec · Progress Rail · Race Communications · Terra-Gen · Whittinghill Aerospace · Fueling Oil Pump Corp.
AIRPORT BUSINESS LISTINGS CAN CHANGE; THE OFFICIAL MOJAVE AIR & SPACE PORT DIRECTORY IS THE AUTHORITATIVE REFERENCE.
05 / A LEGACY YOU CAN SEE
THE FUTURE,
PRESERVED
IN MOJAVE.
The Rotary Rocket Roton still stands in Legacy Park, together with replicas of Space Ship One and Voyager — physical reminders that Mojave’s experimental spirit remains part of its landscape.
Learn how the Mojave Transportation Museum preserves the extraordinary work of engineers, pilots, designers and flight-test teams for the next generation.
VISIT PLANE CRAZY SATURDAY ↗