This story was updated at 7:26 p.m. EST.
California safety inspectors have cited the private spaceflight
company Scaled Composites in connection with an explosion that killed three of
the firm's workers last July.
The citations, issued Thursday, faulted the
Mojave, Calif.-based firm for failing to provide "effective
information and training of the health and physical hazards associated with
nitrous oxide," a compound used during a July 26 test that ended in an explosion, killing
three employees and injured three others at the Mojave Air and Space Port.
"Scaled Composites regrets
that this accident occurred, and we have expressed
our condolences to the victims and their families and provided support during
this difficult time," said Doug Shane, Scaled Composites executive vice
president, adding that the firm cooperated fully with California's Division of
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) during the investigation.
"And we continue to work with
the agency so that the enhanced procedures already implemented promote the
safest workplace conditions possible," Shane told SPACE.com.
Led by aerospace visionary
Burt Rutan, Scaled built and flew the piloted, air-launched SpaceShipOne suborbital
spacecraft three times in 2004, two of which launched within two weeks to win the
$10 million Ansari X Prize.
The firm was conducting
tests as part of the development
for SpaceShipTwo, a larger spaceliner designed to carry space tourists to
suborbital space for Virgin
Galactic, when the deadly accident occurred last summer. According to
Friday's report, Scaled faces up to $25,870 in fines for the citations.
"The company has 15 working
days from date of issuance to pay the assessed fines or appeal them," Kate
McGuire, a spokesperson with Cal/OSHA, told SPACE.com in a statement.
Like SpaceShipOne, the new
SpaceShipTwo will be air-launched by a carrier craft. But the new craft is expected to carry
up to eight people - two pilots and six passengers - at a time to an altitude
of 68 miles (110 kilometers), where they would experience several minutes of
weightlessness before returning to Earth. Scaled and Virgin Galactic officials
were working toward a planned rollout of SpaceShipTwo later this year and
operational flights in 2009 when the accident occurred.
Virgin Galactic plans to
stage its space tourist flights out of a central
terminal at Spaceport America in New Mexico.
Editor's note: This story was corrected to reflect the fine amount. The citations included $25,870 in fines, not $25,310 as initially reported.
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