Names released of 3 men who died in Mojave explosion

[The Straight Story]

Three people died and three more were seriously hurt in an explosion during a flowing test of nitrous oxide for SpaceShipTwo at the Mojave Air & Space Port on Thursday.

The victims were employees of Scaled Composites, the company that is working on the aircraft and helped build SpaceShipOne. Killed were Eric Blackwell, 38, of Randsburg, Charles May, 45, of Mojave and Todd Ivens, 33, of Tehachapi, according to the Kern County Coroner’s office.

“We don’t know why — why it exploded,” said Burt Rutan, director of Scaled Composites, as he struggled to talk during a news conference. “We just don’t know.”

About 10 employees were conducting a routine and monthly flowing test of nitrous oxide — also known as laughing gas — in an open area about 2:30 p.m., Rutan said. The material was under pressure.

http://www.bakersfield.com/hourly_news/story/198908.html

[yella_dawg]

1. Weird

Nitrous is an oxidizer, not a fuel. Was this a pressure explosion? It takes a hell of a lot of both pressure and volume to cause such a deadly incident.

Weird.

[melody]

2. Definitely, Nox doesn't explode by itself

It needs to mix with something to explode.