Mojave Airport & Spaceport Totally Explained

Everything about Mojave Airport totally explained

Mojave Airport & Spaceport, also known as the Civilian Aerospace Test Center, is located in Mojave, California, at an elevation of |0|0}}|m||||r=}|us|er|re}}|d=LoffAoffDbSoff|s=}}. It 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.

Activities

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.

Flight testing

Flight testing activities have been centered at Mojave since the early 1970s, due to the lack of populated areas surrounding the airport. It is also favored for this purpose due to its proximity to the Edwards Air Force Base, where the airspace is restricted from ground level to an unlimited height, and where there's a supersonic corridor. Mojave is also the home of the National Test Pilot School

Space industry development

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.
On December 6, 2007, the Antelope Valley Press reported that Mojave Spaceport was in danger of losing the "spaceport" designation by the end of 2007. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) gave notice to spaceport officials of its intention to suspend or revoke the space launch site operator's license on December 31. The FAA's actions are a result of concerns of the Office of Commercial Space Transportation regarding the storage and handling of the related chemicals and explosives at the airport.

Aircraft heavy maintenance and storage

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.

History

The Mojave Airport was first opened in 1935 as a small, rural airfield serving the local gold and silver mining industry.
In July, 1942, the U.S. Marine Corps took over the field and vastly expanded it as the Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station (MCAAS) Mojave. Many of the Corps' World War II aces received their gunnery training at Mojave. With the end of World War II, MCAAS was disestablished in 1946, and became instead a U.S. Navy airfield. At the end of 1953, the USMC reopened MCAAS Mojave as an auxiliary field to MCAS El Toro.
In 1961, after the USMC transferred operations to MCAS El Centro, Kern County obtained title to the airport. In February, 1972, the East Kern Airport District was formed to administer the airport; EKAD maintains the airport to this day.

First flights and significant events

July 1, 1942 - Construction begins on Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station at Mojave.
July 31, 1944 - USMC Capt. Edward Shaw, a decorated World War II ace, was killed while test-flying an F4U Corsair
February 7, 1946 - MCAAS disestablished.
July 12, 1988 - First flight of the Scaled Composites Triumph
February 19, 1990 - First flight of the Scaled Composites ARES
July 26, 1998 - First flight of the Scaled Composites Proteus
March 1, 1999 - Rollout of the Rotary Rocket Roton ATV.
July 28, 1999 - First flight of the Roton ATV.
October 12, 1999 - third, final and longest flight of Roton ATV.
October 8, 2000 - First firing of an XCOR Aerospace LOX-powered rocket engine.
July 21, 2001 - First flight of the XCOR EZ-Rocket, flown by Dick Rutan (single-engine configuration).
July 24, 2002 - First touch-and-go of a rocket powered aircraft, the XCOR EZ-Rocket (world record).
June 17, 2004 - Mojave designated a Spaceport by the FAA.
June 21, 2004 - SpaceShipOne flight 15P, the first spaceflight of SpaceShipOne.
September 29, 2004 - First Ansari X Prize flight of SpaceShipOne.
October 4, 2004 - X-Prize-winning flight of SpaceShipOne.
June 21, 2005 - First captive flight of Boeing X-37 under Scaled Composites White Knight
December 3, 2005 - First departure of a rocket-powered aircraft on a point-to-point flight (XCOR EZ-Rocket, departed MHV for California City, flown by Dick Rutan).
December 15, 2005 - First arrival of a rocket-powered aircraft on a flight originating at another airport (XCOR EZ-Rocket return flight from California City, piloted by Rick Searfoss).

Notable flight test programs to use the Civilian Aerospace Test Center

Boeing X-37

Eclipse 500 (crosswind landing data)

General Electric CF34

General Electric GE90

Lockheed CATBird (post modification and systems flight test)

Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor (crosswind landing data)

Lockheed Martin VH-71 Kestrel

McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30

Air Tractor 401 modified with an Orenda Aerospace OE600 engine (certification flight test program}

Rotary Rocket

Scaled Composites White Knight and SpaceShipOne

Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 (envelope expansion, flutter, stability & control, crosswind takeoffs & landings)

Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer

Adaptive Compliant Wing developed by FlexSys Inc flight tested on White Knight.

Notable pilots and engineers based at Mojave

Peter Siebold

Movie/television location credits

Due to the Mojave Spaceport's unique location and facilities, a number of movies, TV shows and commercials have been filmed on location here. The Airport Administration actively promotes the facility as a set. The airport has facilities dedicated for filming, a large supply of aircraft to use as props and two large film pads that can be flooded for water scenes. Action movies and car commercials make up the bulk of the filming at the airport. Movie credits include:

Die Hard 2

Dragnet

Executive Decision

Flags of Our Fathers

Flightplan

Hot Shots

MacArthur

The Rookie

Spartan

Speed (Specifically, the exploding airliner)

S.W.A.T.

Thirteen Days

Tuskegee Airmen

Waterworld TV Show credits include:

Alias

Airwolf

Boom

Fear Factor

JAG

Man vs. Beast

MythBusters

The Rebel Billionaire

S Club 7

The Stand

Stunt Junkies

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