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.
3 comments so far
Well, I would say this sucks, but two people getting killed is more than just “sucks”. This is a tragedy. I don’t even want to consider what is going to happen in the next few weeks.
It’s especially sad because Scaled has such a good safety record. This reminds me of when SW Airlines had their fatality in Chicago a year ago. Even the best occasionally screw up. Dang.
Thanks for linking up to ABC 23 news. I posted more video today, including a short interview with a brother of one of the surviving victims. There’s a lot of video on the sidebar… - Nick, ABC 23
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