Blast at Desert Spaceport Kills Three

Blast at Desert Spaceport Kills Three

news.aol.com

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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

this could be a major set back for private space tourism. not to mention ALL space exploration if you add this to all of the problems NASA is having as well. it's one thing to have military personel or government workers be killed on the job but will people be apprehensive about risking themselves on these flights in the early years?

news.aol.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 7/27/2007 by homeskillet]

Thanks for posting this homes'. The loss of life is tragic. Scaled Composites LLC was just bought by Northrop/Grumman in the last week (pending regulatory approval) as reported by intelgurl... Branson must be having kittens.

This is a "bad day" all round for civilian manned spaceflight... what with the NASA "Booze-Gate" and saboteurs and all...

I need a drink... Drambuie and Bailey's. This and "Booze-Gate" are driving me to drink... truth.

Keep us informed OK?

Thanks again, sort of...

Vic

EDIT: to add "NOS" explosion, two tanks. Space.com link.

[edit on 27-7-2007 by V Kaminski]

no problem man. also lets not forget that NASA shooting that happened not to long ago. it kind of makes you wonder what the heck is going on over there.

shooting

maybe these are deliberate attempts to slow done our seemingly inevitable growth into outer space?


edit: i understand that space is a tricky business and accidents do happen such as NOS tanks exploding. but maybe someone with more knowledge on the subject could connect the timing with other events.



[edit on 7/27/2007 by homeskillet]

now this article here is contradictory. link

it states,

involved the highly flammable gas nitrous oxide.

but nitrous oxide is a non-flammable gas.

Osha website

this is from the your OSHA link

* Reactivity

1. Conditions contributing to instability: Nitrous oxide can form an explosive mixture with air.

2. Incompatibilities: Contact of nitrous oxide with aluminum, boron, hydrazine, lithium hydride, phenyllithium, phosphine, sodium, tungsten carbide, hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide, organic peroxides, ammonia, or carbon monoxide may cause violent reactions to occur.

This is only a minor glitch....really... the push for commercial space transport is just to big...

P.S. homeskillet, I gave you a star just for your Pic... A+

Garaman Rex, hehe i guess i should have read through the whole thing. either way, Burt Rutan and crew, working with the NOS, knew what would react and what wouldn't. i guess only time will tell what happened after an investigation.

oh and DisabledVet, thanks!

Very tragic for the community. I wonder what the investigation will find; I hope it is thorough but not rushed, with definitive answers, so their program will continue forward.

V K, I went to intelgurl's thread to read more after reading your post. I do want to believe that the sale will be good for Scaled Composites. Burt Rutan is the man! The people assembled there stand in line with history's great innovators. The loss of these people is tragic not just for the company but also for the entire program.

Homeskillet, your avatar brought back memories of American spaceflights with the chimps and Russian spaceflights with the dogs. As a kid back then, I loved their stories as much as the human astronauts!