Explosion Kills Three at SpaceShipOne Testing Facility
Quote:
Explosion Kills 3 at Mojave Airport
Jul 27, 9:06 AM (ET)
By ALICIA CHANG
MOJAVE, Calif. (AP) - An explosion that killed three at a Mojave Desert airport during testing of a new space tourism vehicle has shaken a small community that prides itself as the hometown of the first private space launch.
The blast Thursday at a remote test facility belonging to Scaled Composites LLC critically injured three other employees working on a propellant system for the vehicle.
The company, headed by maverick aerospace designer Burt Rutan, made history in 2004 when its SpaceShipOne became the first private manned rocket to reach space. Since that milestone, Rutan has partnered with British billionaire Richard Branson to build a fleet of commercial vehicles dubbed SpaceShipTwo for Virgin Galactic.
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Re: Explosion Kills Three at SpaceShipOne Testing Facility
CRAP, I wish Burt and the rest of SC the best. Truly a big setback in the space program!
Re: Explosion Kills Three at SpaceShipOne Testing Facility
This is truly horrible, I send my condolences out to them. I would love nothing more than to be living out in the desert and working under the great Mr. Rutan, and I really hope they will continue doing what they have been doing. This entire private space venture is just like another Space Race; attempting to achieve goals that have been done before, but this time in a different arena. There will be many setbacks and hardships, such as this one, but they should definitely keep going.
