EAA Aviation Nation

There's a lot to interest aviation fans at the 2008 EAA AirVenture aviation celebration at Oshkosh, Wisconsin this July 28-August 3. There's also a lot to interest space fans, too. I posted about some prize-related possibilities for the big show a few weeks ago.

Alan Boyle from Cosmic Log is on the road to see and report on the AirVenture. He notes that

Among the headliners will be the Rocket Racing League as well as aerospace designer Burt Rutan and Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, fresh from their rollout of SpaceShipTwo's mothership, the White Knight Two.

The linked article from the Business Times Online shows that the WK2 folks will be busy:

This month, various aviation big-wigs and politicians, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Governor of California, will assemble in the Mojave Desert for the unveiling of WhiteKnightTwo (WK2).

Cosmic Log also reports on one of the draws of AirVenture, the Rocket Racing League. If you read the article already yesterday, read the bottom again for the July 23 update on FAA certification for the variant supported by LLC challenger Armadillo.

RLV News points to a New Scientist article on the status of the Rocket Racing League demo race at AirVenture. Also see the comments for XCOR events there.

Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor LunaTrex has personal-scale aviation connections through its AirBuoyant team member and future municipal airport facility. They also will be represented at AirVenture.

We started in Mojave CA, and did a lot in Oshkosh, WI. Now it's time for prize-seeking aviators to quickly fly back to a different part of California: the Charles M. Schultz County Airport at Santa Rosa. This is for the 2008 NASA/CAFE General Aviation Challenge. The CAFE Foundation recently announced 5 teams that will be competing starting August 5 for $300,000 in NASA-sponsored prizes at this year's GAT Challenge. EAA Chapter 124 is looking for 60 volunteers to help run the event. Their June Newsletter has more details.