Explosion at Mojave launch site kills two

MOJAVE -- Two workers were killed and four others criticallyinjured Thursday by an explosion at a Mojave Desert airport siteused by the pioneering aerospace company that sent the first privatemanned rocket into space and is developing a new craft for spacetourism.

Wreckage of equipment and vehicles could be seen in viewsbroadcast by TV news helicopters over the Mojave Air and Space Portin the high desert north of Los Angeles near Edwards Air Force Base.

The blast occurred at a facility belonging to Scaled CompositesLLC, caused two fatalities and at least four critical injuries andleft some toxic material, said Kern County fire Capt. Doug Johnston.All the victims worked for Scaled.

The accident involved nitrous oxide but it was not known if anactual rocket motor test was under way or whether it occurred duringpreparation for a test, fire Inspector Tony Diffenbaugh told KABC-TV.

Scaled Composites is the Mojave-based builder of SpaceShipOne,the first private manned rocket to reach space.

and is developing a successor for the new space tourism businessVirgin Galactic.

Aerospace designer Burt Rutan, who heads Scaled, was away at thetime. He sounded distraught in a phone call with The AssociatedPress as he was en route to the scene.

"We've lost a couple of our employees. It's a very big deal,"Rutan said.

Scaled's flight line facilities were closed late Thursday, andauthorities did not allow any access to the accident site in aremote unpaved area about a quarter-mile beyond an airplane storagearea.

Scaled uses nitrous oxide as an oxidizer in its rockets, whichare tested at the airport. An oxidizer provides the oxygen thatrocket fuel needs to burn. Scaled's Web site notes that"temperatures and pressures must be carefully controlled" duringoxidizer transfers.

Aerospace and defense contractor Northrop Grumman Corp. owns 40percent of the company and recently agreed to acquire the rest ofit. The deal is awaiting regulatory approval and should close nextmonth.

Northrop Grumman spokesman Dan McClain said the company had nocomment on the explosion.

Mojave airport is where the Rutan-designed Voyager aircraft wasbuilt. It made history in 1986 when it achieved the first nonstopflight around the world without refueling.

In 2004, Rutan's SpaceShipOne, funded by Microsoft co-founderPaul Allen, made the first privately financed manned spaceflight byclimbing more than 62 miles high on a suborbital journey aboveMojave. SpaceShipOne went on to make two more flights to win the $10million Ansari X Prize.

Rutan has since been developing SpaceShipTwo for entrepreneurRichard Branson's Virgin Galactic, who plans to offer $200,000 ridesinto space for tourists.

Branson is investing at least $200 million for a fleet of Rutan'sspaceships. Earlier this year he told a trade show the new ship willbe ready within a year, and after a year of flight tests, its firstcommercial launch would be in 2009.

Rutan, who works secretively and stresses that safety will be thekey to success of space tourism, has not publicly released aschedule for completion of the design, testing and first launch.

An ambulance station at the airport responded immediately to thescene, said Mark Corum, a spokesman for Hall Ambulance Service.

Paramedics reported two people were killed, four were criticallyinjured and one suffered minor injuries, Corum said.

The injured were airlifted to Kern Medical Center about 45 milesfrom the airport, he said.

A call seeking comment from the airport manager was notimmediately returned.

Hazardous-materials experts and coroner's officials were workingat the scene late Thursday.

The airport is often crowded with parked airliners that are notin service. Its flight operations often involve unusual aircraftundergoing testing, and civilian test pilots undergo training there.

Xcor Aerospace, another of the high-profile civilian rocketcompanies located there, was not involved in the blast, said RichPournelle, its director of business development.

Bill Deaver, publisher of weekly Mojave Desert News, said theairport is an important part of the unincorporated community ofabout 4,000 people. The airport employs about 1,500 people, he said,and is the country's first inland spaceport certified by the FederalAviation Administration.

The airport has been a popular location of movie and televisionproduction. Part of "Speed" was filmed at the airport -- a Boeing707 was blown up in a scene that was supposed to be Los AngelesInternational Airport.

Deaver said parts of other several other movies, including "Flagsof Our Fathers" and "Waterworld" were filmed there.