Virgin Voyage  Virgin Galactic Helps Build the New Space Age in
the Mojave Desert  Image: Virgin Galactic's White Knight 2 with
Spaceship Two prepares to take off on a test flight.  Virgin
Galactic's White Knight 2 with Spaceship Two prepares to take
off on a test flight. John Makely / NBC News  MOJAVE, Calif. —
The Mojave Desert is where the Right Stuff was born. It's where
Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier with the X-1 rocket plane
in 1947. It's where other test pilots earned their astronaut
wings in the X-15 during the '60s.  Now the Right Stuff is being
born again in Mojave. But it's an open question whether that
renewed spirit of rocket-powered flight will grow up here — or
take root someplace else, as it did in the 1960s.  This time,
the rockets being tested in the desert aren't secret military
projects. They're commercial ventures, focused on bringing the
thrill of outer space to the masses and turning a profit.  "As a
child, I read about some of the things that happened ... the
early X-1 flights, t