The Mojave Air and Space Port’s Board of Directors is now down to four. Long-time board member Marie Walker has resigned, citing pressing business concerns, Board President Dick Rutan announced on Tuesday. Walker is founder and chief executive officer of Fiberset Inc., a composite manufacturing company located at the airport. A notice on the airport’s website says that the Board of Directors will appoint a replacement for Walker. The appointment […]
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The Stuart O. Witt Event Center. (Credit: Douglas Messier)
Mojave residents can officially say goodbye to the Pool Building on Poole Street (No Relation).
The Mojave Air and Space Port Board of Directors voted on Tuesday to rename the structure after CEO and General Manager Stu Witt, who spearheaded the renovation of the building where military pilots once underwent emergency water egress training.
The Stuart O. Witt Event Center will host its first public gathering next month when the Antelope Valley Board of Trade holds its Business Outlook Conference on Feb. 21.
The fate of Plane Crazy Saturday remained up in the air Tuesday as the Mojave Transportation Museum (MTM) and the board of the Mojave Air and Space Port came no closer to resolving their differences over the monthly event.
At issue is a new $100 monthly fee that the spaceport has imposed upon MTM to cover security and liability costs. Officials say that the fee is more than fair because other groups that use the airport are charged much more. Officials from the transportation museum say they will not pay to volunteer their time for an event that promotes the airport.
That’s where things have stood for months — and nothing changed on Tuesday during the spaceport board’s monthly meeting. Both sides restated their positions without budging an inch. As a result, this week’s Plane Crazy Saturday could be the very last one in Mojave.
Mojave Air and Space Port. (Credit: Douglas Messier)
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
Tenants on the north side of the Mojave Air and Space Port will be getting power, water and high-speed fiber services early next year under a $1.3 million project approved by the East Kern Airport District Board of Directors on Tuesday.
Chief Operating Officer Kevin Wojtkiewicz estimated that the work could take two to three months to complete.
Mojave Air and Space Port. (Credit: Douglas Messier)
MOJAVE (MMC PR) — A medical device that will help crash-rescue firefighters at the Mojave Air and Space Port treat medical patients was donated to the East Kern Airport District by the directors of the Mojave Community Medical Center, Inc. (MMC) Tuesday.
The pulse-oximeter allows firefighters to check the amount of oxygen and in a patient’s blood, expressed as a percentage, plus the patient’s pulse rate, said MMC President Bill Deaver.
Bloon flight profile. (Credit: zero2infinity)
A capsule built by Dick Rutan for the purpose of making the first non-stop, around the world balloon flight has found a new home in Barcelona with a company planning near-Earth balloon tourism.
Building 82, future home of the Mojave Makers. (Credit: Douglas Messier)
by Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
On Tuesday, the East Kern Airport District board approved a lease with the Space Studies Institute for a storage building at the Mojave Air and Space Port that is being renovated into a maker space. SSI is serving as the lessee until the Mojave Makers, a group composed of employees of different airport tenants, can obtain its 501(c)3 non-profit status.
by Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
Stuart Witt is celebrating his 10th anniversary as CEO and General Manager of the Mojave Air and Space Port. He reminisced a bit about his decade as head of the desert facility and looked ahead during a meeting of East Kern Airport District on Tuesday.
Witt recalled his first board meeting where everyone was very concerned about the future of the airport. But, the airport is now thriving as an R&D and test flight center where multiple companies are building the world’s most advanced aircraft and spaceships.
Board Chairman Jim Balentine said that Witt had given the airport strong direction and led it well.
“It’s been the gift of my life to be part of it,” Witt said.
Kiruna, Sweden (Spaceport Sweden PR) — On Tuesday, March 27th, TEDx comes to above the Arctic Circle, bringing an inspiring day full of energy and ideas worth spreading.
TEDxKiruna will be held at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna in Swedish Lapland, on Tuesday March 27th from 9 am until 5 pm. The independently organized event, licensed by TED, is open to the public but requires application and registration at www.tedxkiruna.com. The full day will be streamed live through webcast on www.tedxkiruna.com.
Burt Rutan came home to Mojave over the weekend, nine months after retiring from Scaled Composites and moving to Idaho. He was here to mark the 25th anniversary of Voyager’s non-stop flight around the world that his brother, Dick, and Jeana Yeager flew in 1986.
Burt Rutan spoke for two hours in a conference room in the Mojave Air and Space Port’s administration building on Saturday, holding an overflow crowd spellbound as he recounted the daring 9-day flight completed a quarter century this month.
Rutan gave the talk on Plane Crazy Saturday, a monthly open house held at the airport. The tarmac was filled with planes that Rutan had designed, and the parking lot was overflowing with cars as aviation enthusiasts flocked to Mojave to celebrate the historic flight. Later that day, a dinner was held at the Mariah Country Inn & Suites just outside the airport gates.