Below is a copy of the statement that Scaled Composites posted on its website Friday concerning the explosion last summer that claimed the lives of three employees and seriously injured three others.
The statement outlines steps the company has taken to make sure that a similar explosion doesn’t occur in the future. The Mojave-based company also says that it was “completely surprised” by the explosion, which resulted from a fuel leak during a routine engine test. This claim likely forms the basis of the company’s appeal of fines levied against it for safety violations by Cal OHSA.
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August 1, 2008
The rocket oxidizer cold-flow test accident of 26 July 2007 at Scaled Composites was a devastating event. It caused the death of three co-workers and serious injuries to three more. It produced untold grief and turmoil for immediate families and friends of those killed and injured, as well as to the Scaled family. All of our lives were changed that day.
It should go without saying that we were completely surprised by this accident, as we had conducted numerous tests, without incident, on similar systems including the SpaceShipOne rocket motor. The body of knowledge about nitrous oxide (N2O) used as a rocket motor oxidizer did not indicate to us even the possibility of such an event. However, because this serious and unanticipated accident had occurred, we had to look back at what had happened and where we go from there.
Continue reading ‘Scaled Composites Releases Update on Accident Investigation’
Almost exactly one year after a fatal explosion that claimed the lives of three Scaled Composites workers, Virgin Galactic President Will Whitehorn has made an extraordinary safety claim about the as-yet-unflown SpaceShipTwo vehicle during an interview with The Independent.
“Q: New technology involves risk, space travel most certainly does. How can you manage the dangers?
WW: We’re trying to take the riskiest things out of the equation. Ground-based rocketry involves firing a massive explosion under somebody to leave the planet – we’ve eliminated that. So you’re launching in a very safe environment. We’ve hopefully eliminated some of the risks of re-entry, which is another of the most dangerous aspects.
We believe that this will be thousands of times safer than any previous human flights into space.”
The claim came during the same week that George Nield, head of the FAA unit that regulates commercial human space flight, warned space tourism companies to get serious about the risks faced by their wealthy clients.
Continue reading ‘Whitehorn Claims SpaceShipTwo “Thousands of Times Safer” on Eve of Roll-out; FAA Official Tells Tourism Companies to Get Real on Safety’
Emergency workers from Hall Ambulance are being honored for their response to the fatal explosion last summer at the Scaled Composites’ facility in Mojave, the Bakersfield Californian reports.
The rescue personnel responded to the scene soon after the accident, not knowing whether another explosion was imminent. Two Scaled employees were dead and four others injured, one of whom later died after being airlifted to a local hospital. “One patient was covered with little black carbon fibers sticking out of his body,” the paper reports.
The personnel being honored by the California Ambulance Association’s Stars of Life program in Sacramento this week include:
Chris Beucher, flight medic
Samuel Swanson, paramedic
Heather Taylor, paramedic
Sean Eddy, paramedic field supervisor
Brent Wible, paramedic
Timothy Reynolds, paramedic
Jeanette Green, flight nurse
Michael Knutson, EMT
Beucher said he is honored to receive the recognition. “TV portrays it as six months later you meet the victim in his backyard and have a barbecue,” he told the paper. “More often than not we take heat from people.”
The State of California issued five citations against Scaled Composites and issued fines of more than $25,000. The company has appealed the citations and fines.
Scaled Composites could still face a criminal or civil prosecution over the fatal explosion at its Mojave, Calif. facility that killed three workers and injured three others, according to a Flight Global story.
California safety officials levied citations and fines totally $28,000. The company has appealed the decision, a process which Flight Global reports could take up to a year. The appeal process would not affect any civil or criminal prosecutions that authorities might decide to launch.
Scaled Composites is appealing $28,000 in fines levied by California safety officials relating to a July explosion last year that killed three employees and injured three others.
The Bakersfield Californian has details, as does Space.com here. Neither story indicates why the company is appealing the fines, which were levied for citations alleging the company failed to adequately train workers and to maintain a safe working environment. The company has not commented publicly.
CalOSHA’s accident report indicates the employees were watching a cold-flow test from behind a chain link fence when the explosion occurred. Aviation Week reports this preliminary report points to an oxidizer tank as the cause of the explosion. The company is developing the suborbital tourist vehicle SpaceShipTwo for Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic.
A report by California safety officials indicates that Scaled Composites workers were watching a rocket propellant system test through a chain-link fence when an explosion occurred and killed three of them, according to an AP account.
The report comes a month after California fined the company $28,000 for alleged safety violations at the company’s Mojave facility. The AP reports that Scaled Composites is appealing the citations and the fine.
There is additional information at:
FlightGlobal.com: Accident report points to oxidizer tank
NewScientistSpace.com: Report leaves Scaled Composites blast a mystery
