Space Tourism Incubating in California’s Mojave Desert

The Mojave Desert is where the Right Stuff was born. It’s where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier with the X-1 rocket plane in 1947. It’s where other test pilots earned their astronaut wings in the X-15 during the ’60s.
Now the Right Stuff is being born again in Mojave. But it’s an open question whether that renewed spirit of rocket-powered flight will grow up here–or take root someplace else, as it did in the 1960s.

This time, the rockets being tested in the desert aren’t secret military projects. They’re commercial ventures, focused on bringing the thrill of outer space to the masses and turning a profit.

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