Welcome to Mojave

Mojave is located 50 miles east of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 2762 feet. The town is located at the southwestern region of the Mojave Desert, below and east of Oak Creek Pass and the Tehachapi Mountains.

The city of Mojave began in 1876 as a construction camp on the Southern Pacific Railroad. From 1884 to 1889, the town was the western terminus of the 165-mile, twenty-mule team borax wagon route originating at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley. It later served as headquarters for construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

Aerospace Industry

Located near Edwards Air Force Base, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, and Palmdale Regional Airport, Mojave has a rich aerospace history as well. Its airport used to be a U.S. Marine air base. Besides continuing operating as a small airport, it hosted national air races

The airport is home of various aerospace companies and institutions such as Scaled Composites and the civilian National Test Pilot School. The town was home to the Rutan Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the world nonstop and unrefueled. The airport is also the first inland spaceport in the United States, the Mojave Spaceport, which was the location of the first private spaceflight, the launch of SpaceShipOne.