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The small desert town of Mojave, California is preparing to witness a historic moment in space history later this month, when a private spacecraft will attempt to lift off and touch down in space.
It's interesting that Mojave, the stopover for people on their way to see the largest sodium salt mine pits and the ghost towns from the 1890s located near the silver and gold mines, is so closely associated with technology and innovation. A dry and sandy area of a remote piece of land, the Mojave has roots that reach deep into the course of the history of the American space program.
East of Mojave is Edwards Air Force Base, home to legendary pilots and pioneering aircraft. NASA's 15-X, for example, came to life high above the Mojave area about a decade ago, tearing through the sky in an attempt to set speed and altitude records dating back to the 1950s.
Back in the 21st century, Mojave International Airport, also known as the Civilian Flight Test Center, will soon become the first spaceport. He played a large part in making public space flights real and possible.
private space industry
Mojave airport is the home port of Spaceship 1, the spacecraft of the Scaled Composite company, which is in the preparation stages for June 21, the day it will become the world's first private space vehicle. If everything goes as planned, the spacecraft will reach a height of about 100 kilometers above the Earth's surface in its flight over the airport, after which it will return to a stop orbit.
This is the updated version of the early days of aviation: a mixture of a white scarf, goggles and sweaty hands gripping the control stick.
The purpose of the flight is to show that the space front is also open to private initiatives. Furthermore, Spaceship 1 may be a symbol of the breakthrough, which will also allow the masses, currently confined to the ground, access to space.
Meanwhile, the Mojave Chamber of Commerce is giving the city's economy a boost by declaring June 21 Space Day. A Space Day fundraising form has been issued and distributed to non-profit organizations in Mojave and the city of California to participate in the sales of souvenirs, food and beverages during the anticipated flight of Spaceship 1.
The space version of Woodstock?
There is not one room left in Mojave, which is currently in the center of things. So are the surrounding towns. Hotels, motels, RV parks, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. are all preparing for the onslaught of tourists.
"Landing Spaceship 1 safely is at the forefront of our minds right now," said Bob Rice, director of airfield operations at Mojave Airport.
"We are currently working on parking spaces. We can only accommodate a certain number of cars. "Once we got the launch date for SpaceShipOne, we opened up what I call a 'war room' and started getting ready," Rice told Space.com.
The key to success is rapid retargeting, meaning that a commercial airport must be converted to an airport, from which a spacecraft will take off and land back there, and then quickly return it to function as a normal airport, Rice added.
a crucial step
Rhys is used to spying on spaceships, which pierce the surrounding sky. He was the senior Air Force man handling NASA's shuttle landings at Edwards Air Force Base in the 1990s.
Rice helped write ferry handling procedures, including accident handling procedures. "Landing spacecraft is no stranger to me," said Rice, but each spacecraft landing has its own special circumstances.
Reyes said that they are working on preparing action plans for the best organization of the audience, the invited AHMs and the media in preparation for the launch of the spacecraft, and are also preparing for any "incident" that may occur to the spacecraft.
The current flight is a crucial step in the history of flights to and from space, which Spaceship 1 must perform in order to claim the X prize, which is worth 10 million dollars. The cash prize will go to the first team to privately finance, build and launch a spacecraft that can carry three people to an altitude of 100 kilometers, return safely to Earth and then repeat the flight two weeks later.
Spaceship 1's short trip to the heights "is not an experiment on dry land. This is an actual experiment," Rice said. "This is preparation for the next X-prize flights. A significant part of our planning will be the same for the next flights as well," he said.
"I never thought I'd get to this moment," Rice said. "I still haven't fully digested it. It's just awesome."
the day of the flight
Stuart Witt, General Manager of Mojave Airport, is ready for action. He has long since published a message to all concerned: "Mojave Airport will be busy operating as a spaceport on June 21st with the possibility of the situation being extended until June 22nd. Any plane that is interested in landing with us will need prior approval starting on June 18."
On the day of the flight, the "White Knight" carrier plane will take Spaceship 1 to the heights. About an hour later, after the two reach an altitude of about 50,000 feet east of Mojave, the plane will release the spacecraft to Daya.
The pilot of the spaceship, whose identity will be announced later, will activate the spaceship's engines for about 80 seconds, and the spaceship will reach a speed three times greater than the speed of sound (Mach 3) on its way up. During the ascent, the pilot will feel forces three and four times greater than gravity on Earth.
Spaceship 1 will then climb to its target altitude of 100 kilometers, before beginning its descent. At this point the spacecraft's wings and tail will be tilted into arrangement, which creates a high drag force. This arrangement will slow the spacecraft in the upper atmosphere and automatically align it to a flight path. During the re-entry phase, the pilot returns the spacecraft to its normal arrangement, which in turn will continue until landing on the same runway at the Mojave airport from which it took off.
All in all, starting with the ascent phase with the help of the "White Knight" and ending with the landing of the spacecraft, the mission should last about one hour and twenty-five minutes.
Spaceship 1's private journey to the limits of space will give the flight "astronaut wings", a move that will make its flight similar to some of the plane-rocket flights of the X-15 a few decades ago.
The X-15 program was a joint operation of NASA, the US Air Force and the US Navy. During almost ten years of flight, several X-15 pilots met the United States' criteria for space flight by passing the 80 kilometer altitude. These pilots were awarded the title of astronauts by the US Air Force.
Two of the X-15 pilots were even recognized as astronauts by the FAI (F
