Welcome to the Mojave Desert, and the world's first officially sanctioned Spaceport!
The Mojave Airport was home to the X-Prize Competition's first successful space launch!
The chalenge was bold: Build a spacecraft and fly three people (or their equivalent weight) to space and back, then do it all again in less than three weeks.
The catch? No government funding. The ship must be entirely privately financed.
Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites had their vehicle, SpaceShip One, ready to fly.
I was an "Engineer" on the AOL team, the official online coverage of the event.
The team was stationed in this trailer just off the runway.
We were right next to the airport fire department and their massive, massive fire trucks.
That's Joe Einstein, my buddy and boss.
Joe and I set up a massive dub rack and edit system.
SpaceShip One had a bunch of cameras inside it. Our job was to duplicate the tapes quickly and get them to the press.
The Mojave Spaceport wasn't just for launching spaceships.
There's a test pilot training academy here too.
Across the runway there was an airplane graveyard with what looked to be a couple hundred jumbo jets parked in it.
It was also an active heliport.
And there's specially remodeled planes there for making movies inside.
The front of this one has been rebuilt to load equipment in through the nose.
Planes of all eras were parked everywhere.
(Be sure to read the instructions before flight.)
The old planes that were parked had foil over the hatches.
It gets way over one hundred degrees in the desert summer.
The foil was to help keep the heat out.
They prepared a special VIP area near the end of the runway. Here are replicas of some of the other spaceships competing for the X-Prize.
Champ Car was one of the competition sponsors.
The day before the launch, they wheeled the plane out on the tarmac to prepare.
Burt Rutan and X-Prize founder Peter H. Diamandis meet AOL folks.
Launch Morning!
Thousands are on hand to witness the first privately-funded space launch.
Director James Cameron, a longtime space enthusiast, was on hand for the launch.
He chatted with the live webcast before takeoff.
I took this picture entirely on accident: Academy Award-Winning Director James Cameron picking his nose.
White Knight rolls out with SpaceShip One slung to her belly.
White Knight was the launch vehicle.
It took off and carried SpaceShip One up to a high altitude.
Everybody watched with high anticipation.
A flight of this type had never been attempted before.
It was very dangerous, and there was a distinct possibility that the pilot might not make it back alive.
People with cameras used their zoom lenses to watch the plane circle higher and higher.
Finally SpaceShip One detached, fired off her rocket, and zoomed up into space.
Our team watched the transmission live in the trailer as it all happened, saw White Knight return to earth alone.
SUCCESS! After making it to space, SpaceShip One glided back to earth for a perfect landing.
A pickup went out and towed it back to the waiting crowds.
Everybody held their breath with anticipation.
Meanwhile, another truck was driving from the ship to our trailer, delivering the tapes from SpaceShip One's internal and external cameras.
I was the first person on planet earth to see the recorded views from inside and outside SpaceShip One. The tapes were still warm. They hadn't even been rewound. HOW COOL IS THAT?!?!?