Two examples of ground-breaking advancements in aerospace from the Antelope Valley have been honored by Popular Science magazine as this year's "Best of What's New." Burt Rutan's entry into the civilian space race, called Tier One, won the Grand Award in the space and aviation category. Also honored in that category was the Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration, an effort by Northrop Grumman Corp. and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to lessen the strength of sonic booms created by supersonic aircraft. Consisting of the rotund SpaceShipOne spacecraft and the spindly White Knight carrier aircraft, Tier One is the latest endeavor...