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| Science |
| Explosion at Scaled Composites site at Mojave Airport Kills 2 |
| 2007-07-27 |
| MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) - An explosion killed two people and critically injured four others at a Mojave Desert airport site used by the pioneering aerospace company that sent the first private manned rocket into space, authorities said. Aerospace designer Burt Rutan, who heads Scaled, told The Associated Press he had no information and was heading to the scene. The blast at a Mojave Air and Space Port facility belonging to Scaled Composites LLC also left some toxic material, said Kern County fire Capt. Doug Johnston. Video news helicopters showed wrecked equipment and vehicles at the airport in the high desert north of Los Angeles near Edwards Air Force Base. The blast site was in a remote unpaved section of the airport. The accident involved nitrous oxide, but it was not known if an actual rocket motor test was under way or whether it occurred during preparation for a test, fire Inspector Tony Diffenbaugh told KABC-TV. Scaled uses nitrous oxide as an oxidizer in its rockets, which are tested at the airport. An oxidizer provides the oxygen that rocket fuel needs to burn. Scaled's Web site notes that ``temperatures and pressures must be carefully controlled'' during oxidizer transfers. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #2 Damn. Who got killed? |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-07-27 10:10 |
| #1 Rutan has since been developing SpaceShipTwo for entrepreneur Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic... Hey, we found a job for his other friends "The Elders". Test pilots... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-07-27 09:05 |