Guide to the Aerospace Valley
California’s Antelope Valley Broke Most Aviation and Space Records
Sep 16, 2009
It is the most Northern corner of the Los Angeles County and the most Eastern piece of the Kern County. Antelope Valley, the Western fragment of the Mojave Desert between Tehachapi and San Gabriel Mountains. What is so special about this place? The best aviation weather you can imagine – over three hundred sunny days per year.
Communities such as Palmdale, Lancaster, Edwards, Rosamond, Mojave, California City, Boron, Tehachapi and Inyokern belong the Greater Antelope Valley.
Edwards Air Force Base
The remarkable history of this amazing high desert valley began about sixty years ago when the US Air Force discovered the value of the huge dry lake bed in the middle of the area. There was no better place for flight-testing that here. All development and testing of most advanced Air Force project was moved to the Antelope Valley.
Worldwide fame earned the Edwards Air Force Base in 1947 when Chuck Yaeger broke the sound barrier here. The X-15, at that time called a “mystery plane”, accomplished what thousands of aircraft engineers hoped for – flying faster than the speed of sound.
The Edwards dry lake bed was the ideal place for this extraordinarily risky attempt. A highly qualified and absolutely determined team of engineers, scientists and pilots worked against all odds to develop aviation technologies just a few visionaries thought possible.
Under today’s standards, their working conditions were very primitive. Scorching hot summer days, extremely cold nights, blazing desert winds with sand and debris flying around. They had no real offices, just some small trailers. Their accommodations also were less than sufficient.
NASA Made Everything Possible
NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, technically a tenant at the Edwards Air Force Base, always was the engine of all innovations at Edwards. In close cooperation with the Air Force, NASA established all relevant components of the US space history here.
For decades, NASA used to be the center of the American space programs. The most memorable projects were the first US space flight and the American moon landing years later. Despite unbeaten advantages of Edwards’ location, the NASA moved the center of the US space research was moved away from California – to Huston, Texas and Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Many Californians still considers this a factually unwise, political decision. These critics might be proven right again and again when the space ship landings cannot be performed in Florida because of turbulent weather. Several times per year they must land at Edwards, and the spacecraft must be shipped as piggyback on a special Boeing 747 to Florida, which costs millions of dollars each time.
Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale
The innovative aviation spirit of the region had some tremendous effect on the industrialization of the area. Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale is a very secretive aerospace development, production and testing facility housing all major aerospace contractors involved.
Defense corporations such as Boeing, Lockheed-Martin, Northrop-Grumman, BAE Systems and others develop, produce and test their air defense products here and offer thousands of highly paid local jobs.
Dozens of unique airplanes were developed and built at the Plant 42. Among them are the Blackhawk, after a quarter of the century still the fastest plane ever designed, and the F-117 Nighthawk fighter, which astonished the world with his stealth capability.
The latest Air Force fighter jets, the F-35 and F-22, were also designed in Palmdale. They are supposed to be the next generation of American fighter jets hoping to maintains US air superiority.
Then most famous product of the Aerospace Valley, however, is the Space Shuttle Columbia. The city of Palmdale renamed one of the major streets leading to Plant 42 to “Columbia Way”.
Mojave Air & Space Port
The latest addition to California’s “aerospace walk of fame” is the Mojave Air & Space Port. SpaceShip One was first commercial venture to enter space. Developed by Mojave’s famous aircraft designer Burt Rutan, it established the necessary groundwork for the future space tourism.
Meanwhile, Rutan’s Scaled Composites Corporation works on the next generation of a space ship. It is called SpaceShip Two and is build on behalf of Virgin Galactic, a space tourism oriented subsidiary of Virgin Atlantic Airways.
Mojave Air & Space Port houses dozens of aerospace companies and employs over one thousand people.
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