Spaceship Two Explosion! Kills two, injures four.

[FLO]

A very sad day:

An explosion killed two space engineers and critically injured four others in the Mojave desert as they tested components for a new space ship commissioned by SIr Richard Branson.

The blast last night occurred in a remote, unpaved area of Mojave Air and Space Port, an airfield used by Scaled Composites LLC, the pioneering aerospace company which built the first private manned rocket to reach space, SpaceShipOne.

The dead and injured were testing the flow of nitrous oxide, or laughing gas, as they worked on a new rocket motor for SpaceShipTwo, which Sir Richard intends to use for Virgin Galactic, his planned future space tourism business charging around £100,000 ($200,000) a ride.

The explosion released a cloud of nitrous oxide into the air, and hazardous materials clean-up teams were sent to the site as a precaution. The injured, including a fifth man who was not badly hurt, were airlifted to Kern Medical Center about 45 miles (70 km) from the airport.

Source: Times online

http://tinyurl.com/2cho5a

[barkis]

That is awful news. Another unfortunate reminder of how dangerous these projects are, not only to the ones who fly in space, but the engineers on the ground who pave the way.

I am sure everyone on SGL and elsewhere, extend our sympathies to the relatives of those involved in this awful trgedy.

Ron.

[Greg]

Awful news...

[Black Shuck]

That is awful news. Another unfortunate reminder of how dangerous these projects are, not only to the ones who fly in space, but the engineers on the ground who pave the way.

Without the work of men and women like these throughout history, human kind would never have made the achievements in space research and exploration. Nothing is ever 100% safe and I hope that the sacrifice these people have made and the loss the families have suffered is commemorated in an appropriate way.

Bill

[GordonCopestake]

Sad news. However I do hope that this doesn't keep other investers away from private space firms