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The private spaceflight firm Scaled Composites has formed a support fund to aid the victims and families of those affected by an explosion last week at the firm's California desert-based facility. Three Scaled Composites workers were killed, and three others injured, in a July 26 explosion at the firm's facility at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California during an oxidizer system test for the company's suborbital SpaceShipTwo passenger spacecraft. "The outpouring of support form around the world has been incredible, and we can't thank you enough for all the support you have given us," Scaled Composites officials...

Excerpt - BAKERSFIELD - A series of explosions ripped through the Mojave Airport shortly before 3 p.m. First reports indicated there were a large fire, two deaths, and several other serious injuries. The explosion apparently happened on the edge of the grounds of the huge airport, where many experimental airplanes, jets, and even rocket planes are tested. One spokesman said a rocket exploded. Emergency equipment is being rushed to the area from throughout the county. Helicopter ambulances are being sent from Bakersfield. ~ snip ~

To All NSS Members and Friends: As many of you have heard, there was a serious accident last week at Scaled Composites, Burt Rutan's pioneering company. Three lives were lost, including Charles 'Glen' May, an NSS member who was a leader within NSS's Huntsville HAL5 Chapter. In addition, three employees suffered serious injuries. Scaled has announced information on a fund for those wishing to support the families of the deceased as well as the injured and their families. The National Space Society urges all of its members to give generously to support these heroes. Please send contributions to Scaled Family...

Day-to-day operations resumed at Mojave Air and Space Port on Friday as state officials arrived to begin their investigation of the explosion that killed three Scaled Composites employees and seriously injured three others. Eric Blackwell, 38, of Randsburg; Charles May, 45, of Mojave; and Todd Ivens, 33, of Tehachapi were killed Thursday during what was described as routine cold-testing of a nitrous oxide propellent system for the company's latest spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo. The names of those hospitalized were not released. "We are doing our best to take care of the families of the deceased as well as the injured and their...

This grieving has been a difficult time for many of us. Glen was the first propulsion technician we brought out to support SpaceShipOne because Glen had “The Right Stuff!” Glen considered himself a soldier on a mission, and he did whatever it took to get the mission accomplished. Glen accepted the risks that come with this line of work. Glen was a commonsense-oriented guy, and he performed many missions with impeccable valor. Glen May’s contributions to SpaceShipOne are seldom told. Glen was humble about his Scaled accomplishments. As a good soldier, Glen did not reveal program details. Most of what...

MOJAVE, Calif. — Two people were killed and four others injured Thursday by an explosion at a Mojave Desert airport that is home to pioneering civilian rocket programs, authorities said. Wreckage of equipment and vehicles could be seen in an overhead view of the site broadcast by a KCAL-TV news helicopter. A sign on a truck behind a bunker had the name Scaled. Scaled Composites is the Mojave-based builder of SpaceShipOne, the first private manned rocket to reach space. "Reports are two fatalities and at least four critical injuries," said Kern County fire Capt. Doug Johnston, who was not at...

SpaceShipOne Breaks the Sound Barrier Today, a significant milestone was achieved by Scaled Composites: The first manned supersonic flight by an aircraft developed by a small company's private, non-government effort. In 1947, fifty-six years ago, history's first supersonic flight was flown by Chuck Yeager in the Bell X-1 rocket under a U.S. Government research program. Since then, many supersonic aircraft have been developed for research, military and, in the case of the recently retired Concorde, commercial applications. All these efforts were developed by large aerospace prime companies, using extensive government resources. Our flight this morning by SpaceShipOne demonstrated that supersonic...

The statement didn’t specify what it meant by “space altitude,” but company officials have previously said they were using the altitude of 50 miles, or approximately 80 kilometers, used by NASA and the U.S. Air Force for awarding astronaut wings. “For Virgin Galactic, the major milestone that we perceive is the altitude at which NASA and Air Force folks get their astronaut wings, which is 50 miles,” George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, said last month. “For us and our customers, I think we’ll be focused on 50 miles, at least at the start.” That is below the 100-kilometer...

SpaceShipTwo (SS2) and its mothership, VMS Eve (WhiteKnightTwo) herald a new era in commercial space flight with daily space tourism flights set to commence from Spaceport America in New Mexico after test program and all required US government licens Virgin Founder, Sir Richard Branson and SpaceshipOne (SS1) designer, Burt Rutan, today reveal SS2 to the public for the first time since construction of the world’s first manned commercial spaceship began in 2007. SS2 has been designed to take many thousands of private astronauts into space after test programming and all required U.S. government licensing has been completed. The unveiling represents...

PALMDALE - A stubby, star-spangled spacecraft made history in June 2004 in the skies over Mojave as the first privately funded manned space program. The story of SpaceShipOne and the people behind its success - notables such as aerospace designer Burt Rutan and mogul Sir Richard Branson - has been told in a variety of forums, but a new book brings it all together and offers a look at the more technical aspects of the program. "SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History" chronicles the development and successful spaceflights of the Mojave-based project which ushered in the possibility of space travel for the...

MOJAVE - Take a few shouted choruses of the traditional launch countdown. Add the hiss of a model rocket engine, a streak of white smoke and a small, dark object in a clear desert sky. Throw in the enthusiasm of more than 400 elementary school students, complete with team shirts, banners and cheers, and you have the Intermediate Space Challenge. The challenge, conducted Friday morning at the Mojave Air and Space Port, pits classroom teams of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders from Mojave and California City schools in a competition to build a high-flying model rocket as well as to create...

Virgin Galactic today unveiled the design of its new space launch system based on SpaceShipOne, which successfully flew into space for the third time in October 2004 and won the $10m Ansari X Prize. The construction of the White Knight Two (WK2) mothership, or carrier aircraft, is now very close to completion at Scaled Composites in Mojave, CA and is expected to begin flight testing in the summer of 2008. White Knight Two will be the world's largest, all carbon composite aircraft. It is designed to have the capability of launching SpaceShipTwo -- carrying six passengers and two pilots --...

The company that flew the first privately funded manned rocket into space has been cited in connection with an explosion last summer that killed three workers, the state said today. California occupational safety inspectors said in a report that Scaled Composites LLC failed to properly train workers about the dangers of nitrous oxide that was used during a test in July. The state levied three citations against Scaled, including two that were considered "serious," and fined the spaceship builder $25,870. The company has 15 days to pay or appeal. Three workers died and three were seriously injured in the explosion...

Virgin Galactic's suborbital rocket glider SpaceShipTwo (SS2) could have a low wing and its carrier aircraft, White Knight II (WK2), a 43m (140ft) wingspan and four engines, chief designer Burt Rutan has said. Rutan, chief executive of Scaled Composites and a director of the Virgin Group-Scaled WK2/SS2 intellectual rights joint venture The Spaceship Company, revealed the possible design changes at the Responsibility for the Future Exploration and Development of Space Symposium, held at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa on 25 August. In Virgin Galactic's conceptual images, SS2 has a mid-wing, unlike its predecessor SpaceShipOne (SS1), and WK2 has two...

Rocketeers By Michael Belfiore Smithsonian, 305 pages, $26.95 American space exploration had a rough time of it on Thursday. NASA's already bruised reputation took a one-two punch with revelations that on at least two occasions astronauts were allowed to fly even though they were intoxicated and that a computer due to be delivered to the International Space Station in August had been sabotaged. The news might have bolstered the case for the increasingly robust efforts at privately funded space ventures, except Thursday also brought news of a deadly explosion at a Mojave Desert airport where a propellant system for a...

If you're a fan of SpaceShipOne, the world's first privately developed manned spacecraft, it's pretty hard to beat last year's act at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wis., when the historic rocket plane was flown in for an appearance on the way to the Smithsonian. But today, AirVenture is unveiling a replica in its Oshkosh museum that can do something the original is no longer able to accomplish. Don't expect the replica to zoom out of the place where it's hung in the AirVenture Museum to the edge of outer space, like its forebear did back in 2004 to...

A true-to-life replica of the historic SpaceShipOne spacecraft is set to debut at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wis. The replica was built by employees at Scaled Composites in Mojave using the same composite molds as the original spacecraft. "To have SpaceShipOne built from the same molds, by the same people, is really something special," said Dick Knapinski , association spokesman. Designed by Burt Rutan, SpaceShipOne shot into the record books with a trio of suborbital spaceflights above Mojave in 2004, making it the world's first privately funded manned space program. The last two flights to the...

LOS ANGELES - Maverick aerospace designer Burt Rutan on Thursday criticized NASA's decision to use an Apollo-style capsule to return to the moon, saying it "doesn't make any sense" to build a new generation of space vehicles using old technology. The designer of SpaceShipOne said NASA's proposed crew exploration vehicle to replace the aging space shuttle fleet doesn't push the technical envelope needed to accomplish more complex future missions that might include manned flights to other planets and moons. "I don't know what they're doing," said Rutan, referring to NASA. "It doesn't make any sense." Rutan said there needs to...

In Bob Newhart’s classic comedy routine, “Merchandising the Wright Brothers,” he has an imaginary phone conversation with Orville and Wilbur just after their historic flight at Kitty Hawk. As a marketing guy, Bob is concerned about the length of the flight. He’s worried that people who pay for a trip to the coast won’t be happy at having to land every hundred feet. And what about getting a john on board? This illustrates the phenomenon I call the “Kitty Hawk Moment”. It is that instant when the impossible becomes a reality. Is it any wonder that people find it hard...

California lawmakers took steps this week to provide an outlay of funds for the inland Mojave Spaceport, an action also designed to keep the state aggressive in public space travel and space enterprise. The California Legislature has moved a bill to invest $11 million in the Mojave Spaceport. Noting competition from other states and nations, the Senate Committee on Transportation voted on a bipartisan 8-1 vote in favor of Senate Bill 1671 by State Senator Roy Ashburn that will ensure a competitive advantage for the first, and only, inland spaceport in the United States. The measure would establish a loan...