February 9, 2006 - With yesterday's 7:22 am (local time) takeoff of Steve Fossett and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer from KSC on his latest spin about the planet, I thought it'd be fun to take a look back at Mojave's contribution to the endeavor: the plane. Even today's LA Times, which ran two photos of the current flight, failed to make any mention of Mojave's rather significant role in things. Even Burt was left out of the story! Mojave, though, and all the hard-working folks at Scaled Composites, is where it all started....

It's O-Dark-Thirty on a nippy January 8, 2004. About the only thing lit up on the airport is the Virgin press tent, set up to accommodate the European press flown and bused in for the occasion. The roll-out ceremony is timed for story deadlines in the UK and the Continent. US press would be handled later in the day. This was purely a Virgin event...even most folks at Scaled, who built the plane, were left off the invite list.

The star of the show (though Steve and Sir Richard would contest that statement) was through the tunnel in the photo on the left. Right: stars of the European press world file their stories.

The final details are in place for the big roll-out event. Glitzy to the max!

The European crew has long gone, it's now daylight, and the archetypical Rutan design sees the sun for the first time, for the US press. Below: Comfy, eh? (Note the "Capricorn" call sign.)

January 22, 2004: Out at the Runway 30 hammerhead for the first engine runs.

March 5, barely two months since first roll-out, and the GlobalFlyer takes to the sky for the first time, with Chuck Coleman's Extra 300 for close chase. To save weight, the design doesn't include a flap system, and since the plane has an extremely high glide ratio, it's  really hard to slow down for landing. Thus, another Burt Rutan innovation - drogue chutes!

Back safe on Mojave soil...another Scaled Composites success.