Mojave (formerly Mohave)[4] is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California, United States.

[4] The town is located in the western region of the Mojave Desert, below and east of Oak Creek Pass and the Tehachapi Mountains.

Telephone numbers in Mojave follow the format (661) 824-xxxx and the area includes three postal ZIP Codes.

From 1884 to 1889, the town was the western terminus of the 165-mile (266 km), twenty-mule team at Harmony Borax Works in Death Valley.

Besides being a general-use public airport, Mojave has three main areas of activity: flight testing, space industry development, and aircraft heavy maintenance and storage.

In 1935, Kern County established the Mojave Airport 0.5 miles (0.8 km) east of town to serve the gold and silver mining industry in the area.

The airport consisted of two dirt runways, one of which was oiled, but it lacked any fueling or servicing facilities.

In 1941, the Civil Aeronautics Board began improvements to the airport for national defense purposes that included two 4,500 by 150 foot (1,372 by 46 m) asphalt runways and an adjacent taxiway.

Mojave also had a 75 by 156 foot (23 by 48 m) swimming pool that was used to train aviators in emergency water egress and for recreation.

The base's 900-seat auditorium hosted several USO shows that featured Bob Hope, Frances Langford and Marilyn Maxwell.

[8] With the end of WWII, MCAAS was decommissioned on February 7, 1946; a U.S. Navy Air Station was established the same day.

Marine Corps reserve units were temporarily deployed to Mojave for two week periods.

In 1961, after the USMC transferred operations to MCAS El Centro, Kern County obtained title to the airport.

[9] During the 1970s, Mojave Airport was served by commuter air carrier Golden West Airlines with scheduled passenger flights operated with de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter turboprops direct to Los Angeles (LAX).

[10] On November 20, 2012, the EKAD Board of Directors voted to change the name of the district to the Mojave Air and Space Port.

[11] The airport is now the home of various aerospace companies and institutions such as Scaled Composites and the civilian National Test Pilot School.

The airport is also the first inland spaceport in the United States, and was the location of the first private spaceflight, the launch of SpaceShipOne on June 21, 2004.

[4] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 58.4 square miles (151 km2), over 99% of it land.

[13] For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined Mojave as a census-designated place (CDP).