Mojave Air and Space Port. (Credit: Douglas Messier)

I wandered over to the Mojave Air and Space Port on Tuesday afternoon for the spaceport’s Board of Directors’ meeting to discover it had been canceled due to a lack of sufficient business to put on the agenda. That was the official explanation, anyway. I think everyone is just on vacation, which is a smart move at this time of year.

But, that doesn’t mean that nothing is going on. Oh, things are happening, all right. Big, mysterious things. I went back to my car, cranked the AC to 11, and drove around America’s first inland spaceport to check out what was going on.

I saw considerable activity at the Pool Building over on Poole Street (no relation). Workers were busy constructing an addition and completing a series of interior renovations. The goal is to meet a Sept. 15 deadline for opening the new community building, which the airport is overhauling at an estimated cost of nearly $2 million.

The deadline is driven by Virgin Galactic, which has invited its 600 plus millionauts to the spaceport 10 days later to get a close-up look at their ride into space. Or something. All I really know is some part of it involves use of the Pool Building. And that it is possible Sir Richard Branson will once again grace Mojave with his presence and toothy grin.

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Video Caption: Morpheus Bravo vehicle executed a successful tether test on August 7, 2013 at Johnson Space Center. The combined Morpheus/JPL team met all test objectives including engine ignition, ascent, a 3 meter lateral translation over simulated Mars soil provided by JPL to help them with a plume study, 40 seconds of hover at the apex, and a slant descent to “landing” using free flight guidance. The entire flight duration […]

In this Google Hangout, SpaceX Founder Elon Musk and Virgin Group Founder Richard Branson talk about entrepreneurship, keep start-up companies alive, and more. Strangely, for a couple of space entrepreneurs, there were few questions about space and nothing specific about Virgin Galactic. I mean, Branson’s flying to space on Christmas Day! Like in December! You’d think SOMEONE would have be interested in that. It couldn’t be that all the folks […]

Hawthorne, CA (SpaceX) – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will provide the launch services for Germany’s second-generation radar reconnaissance satellite system. The satellites, provided by OHB System AG and Astrium GmbH, will replace the current constellation and will be delivered to orbit by two Falcon 9 rockets in 2018 and 2019.

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SpaceShipTwo completed another glide flight this morning. Pilots Mackay & Stucky demonstrated SS2’s unique feather mechanism. Great flight! — Virgin Galactic (@virgingalactic) August 8, 2013   Editor’s Note: This sounds like another training flight to get Virgin Galactic Chief Pilot David Mackay up to speed on flying SpaceShipTwo. They conducted a pilot training glide flight two weeks ago with Mackay aboard. SpaceShipTwo was spotted outside last night attached to its […]

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., Aug. 7, 2013 (ULA PR) – A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV rocket successfully launched the sixth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS-6) satellite for the U.S. Air Force at 8:29 p.m. EDT today from Space Launch Complex-37. This is ULA’s seventh launch in 2013, the 73rd launch since the company was formed in December 2006, and the second WGS mission launch this year.

“Congratulations to the entire team on today’s successful launch of the WGS-6 satellite. As with the previous five WGS missions, we have enjoyed a very strong partnership with the Air Force and all of our missions partners throughout this launch campaign,” said Jim Sponnick, ULA vice president, Atlas and Delta Programs. “We were honored to launch the first two WGS satellites on our Atlas V vehicle and the next four satellites in the constellation on our Delta IV vehicle, delivering critical communications capability to orbit to support our nation’s warfighters throughout the world.”

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It looks as if two former space shuttle structures at the Kennedy Space Center will be converted for use by the U.S. Air Force: Space Florida on Wednesday advanced plans to renovate two former shuttle hangars that might eventually house a secretive military space plane program. The agency’s board approved spending up to $4 million more to overhaul Orbiter Processing Facilities 1 and 2 at Kennedy Space Center, on top […]

Made in Space tests a 3D printer in microgravity. (Credit: Made in Space)

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Made in Space’s customized 3D printer, the first off-Earth manufacturing device scheduled for arrival at the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014, successfully completed a crucial milestone towards flight certification at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Ala.

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SHERPA space tug. (Credit: Spaceflight, Inc.)

Seattle, WA, 5 AUGUST 2013 (Spaceflight, Inc. PR) — Spaceflight Inc. (Spaceflight) recently completed a system definition review for its SHERPA™ in-space tug and hosted payload platform. With this milestone, Spaceflight has announced hosted payload opportunities starting in 2015.

Spaceflight and its partner Andrews Space (Andrews) recently completed a System Definition Review to finalize the SHERPA™ family configuration and pave the way for full scale development and first flight in 2015. With this review Spaceflight is moving forward with detailed design and hardware procurement.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Aug. 6, 2013 (Boeing PR) – The first Boeing [NYSE: BA] electric-powered satellite, the 702 Small Platform (702SP), has passed its Critical Design Review, allowing the new program to move two satellites into assembly, integration and testing.

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