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Mojave rocketeers

Companies are drawn to the Mojave Air & Space Port for a variety of reasons. There's the wide-open stretches of desert where rockets can be tested. There's the long runway, which allows easy takeoffs for airplanes loaded with rockets that have to be launched from high altitudes. And there are few neighbors to complain about the noise ¿ though the space port is only about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Companies are drawn to the Mojave Air & Space Port for a variety of reasons. There’s the wide-open stretches of desert where rockets can be tested. There’s the long runway, which allows easy takeoffs for airplanes loaded with rockets that have to be launched from high altitudes. And there are few neighbors to complain about the noise ¿ though the space port is only about 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

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Just off a desolate stretch of Interstate 14, amid the dusty desert landscape dotted with sage brush and gnarled Joshua trees, sits a warren of wind-worn aircraft hangars with a 21st century mission.

The Firebird

Mojave company Scaled Composites partnered with Northrop Grumman to build the Firebird, a surveillance plane that can be manned or unmanned.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Carbon on rocket

Marlena Argott, left, and Beatrice Oceguera apply carbon to a rocket motor part at Scaled Composites.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Leaving the cubicle

Engineering intern Ethan Chew, left, 28, and engineer Kyle Nyberg, 23, work at Masten Space in Mojave. Nyberg left Boeing to work at Masten.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Reusable spacecraft

XCOR Aerospace spokesman Mike Massee shows a full-size engineering model of the cockpit of a Lynx, a two-seat piloted space transport vehicle that is designed to be reusable.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Spaceship Co.

Employees play ping-pong at Spaceship Co. in Mojave.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Spaceship Co. project

Mechanics Jeff Price, left, and Tee Vong work in a hangar at Spaceship Co., a joint venter of Richard Branson and Scaled Composites.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Doug Shane of Scaled Composites

Doug Shane is president of Scaled Composites. He shows the Firebird, a surveillance plane that can be manned or unmanned.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Dave Masten

Dave Masten is the founder and chief technology officer of Masten Space Systems.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Prepping a rocket

Engineers Kyle Nyberg, left, Kevin Zagorski, center, and propulsion engineer Alex Hreiz prepare to put the nose of the Xaero rocket in place at Masten Space Systems at the Mojave Air & Space Port. The rocket had a successful take off but crashed during descent.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Rocket science

The Xaero rocket, made by Masten Space Systems, takes off at Mojave Air & Space Port.   (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Assessing the flight

Members of the launch team, including Masten Space Chairman David Masten, right, look over the debris of the Xaero rocket after it crashed during a test flight.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

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