Mojave Air & Spaceport

Mojave Air and Spaceport. . The Mojave Airport was created in 1935 as part of the Kern County Airport System. The fledgling airport was built to serve gold mines near Mojave. At the outset of World War Two, the airport became a Marine Corps Air Station that trained Marine Aviators in gunnery, producing the most productive aerial gunners in the Pacific War., Following the war the airport was designed as a Naval Air Station that supported some of the first flight tests of what are now known as unmanned aerial vehicles. During the Korean Conflict, the airport was a Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Station from 1951 to 1959., In 1972, local voters approved creation of what became the East Kern Airport District, and the airport became an incubator for the emerging private space industry, culmination in 2004 with SpaceShipOne winning the Ansari X-Prize. Over the years, the vision of General Managers Dan Sabovich and Stuart Witt, airport board directors, and a dedicated and innovative staff have contributed to the success of the Mojave Air and SpacePort, In 2010, as the airport celebrated its Diamond Anniversary, a new generation of civilian space vehicles were being developed and tested at the nation’s first commercial spaceport, which also supported a bustling industrial park and transloading of wind turbine components arriving on the airport’s extensive railroad system. , , Dedicated September 18, 2010 by the Mojave Transportation Museum Foundation and Mojave Chamber of Commerce to the visionary men and women who have made the Mojave Air and Space Port a place where dreams come true., “Imagination Flies Here!”