They still dream of space flight out in the Mojave

Nice feature in Smithsonian Air & Space on the private and amateur rocket teams figuring out space flight of the future out in the Mojave Desert, not far from where the first spacecraft were tested at Edwards air base. The piece focuses a lot on student rocketeers from Cal State Long Beach, who light up their experiments down a dirt road from the main Mojave Air and Space Port, "five miles from the nearest human being.” "For students, it’s out of the classroom and into real-world rocketry. 'There aren’t many 22-year-olds who’ve loaded LOX [liquid oxygen] and ethanol into liquid rockets,' says Garvey."

Air and Space photo: Chad Slattery