According to local media reports, there has been a fatal explosion at a rocket test stand at Mojave Airport, home to a number of entrepreneurial space companies. Two people were killed and four people were injured. The company involved hasn’t been identified; according to an amalgam of the sketchy reports available so far, it involved a nitrous oxide “flash explosion” on a test stand.
Here are a collection of various reports available so far:
- Bakersfield Californian
- Tehachapi News
- KBAK-TV
- KERO-TV (with low-res photo of the explosion)
- KGET-TV
- KNBC-TV (which reports that a truck at the scene had the Scaled logo on it)
Update 8 pm EDT: According to KBAK-TV, the explosion took place at a Scaled Composites facility at the airport, but the TV station said they didn’t know yet if any Scaled employees were among the casualties.