Special to the Mojave Desert News - 09/18/2008
The Spaceship Company honored,
SANTA MARIA — The Spaceship Company, based at the Mojave Airport/Spaceport, and the Antelope Valley Board of Trade have been named winners of the California Space Authority 2008 SpotBeam Award Winners. The awards will be formally presented at the SpotBeam Awards Dinner on November 19, 2008 at The Proud Bird in Los Angeles, California. The Spaceship Company, based at the Mojave Airport/Spaceport, includes Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic, was awarded the Commercial Space Award for its efforts to develop SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo, designed to carry passengers into space. The Business Development and Retention SpotBeam Award was awarded to the Antelope Valley Board of Trade, which has been instrumental since its establishment in 1957 in promoting and retaining the wealth of aerospace assets located in the region including Edwards Air Force Base and the continued development of America’s first inland spaceport, the Mojave Air and Space Port. "Celebrating its fifth year, the CSA SpotBeam Awards program highlights the significant accomplishments of individuals, organizations, and programs that contributed to the success of California space enterprise in 2008," said CSA Executive Director Andrea Seastrand. "It is always difficult to single out one winner among such high caliber candidates. We are pleased with the winners of this year's awards, who represent the best-of-the-best of California's diverse space enterprise community in all four domains-industry, government, academia and workforce."