Space Launch Workers Badly Burned in Electrical Explosion at Vandenberg Air Force Base

Two workers for a company that launches spacecraft for the U.S. government were seriously injured in an electrical explosion at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast.

The United Launch Alliance said in a statement that the two employees were transferred Monday to a Los Angeles hospital that specializes in treating burn victims.

Reports confirm that the two were working at Space Launch Complex 6, where a Delta IV rocket is being prepared for an August launch, when an “arc flash” occurred.

Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center (Los Angeles) 
The Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, also known as the LAC+USC Burn Center, is one of three burn centers located in the Los Angeles area.

This center is a teaching hospital that also houses a number of other injury-specific centers, such as pediatric and coronary care.

NASA Stennis Space Centre: J-2X Engine 10001 Returns to Test Stand

J-2X engine 10001 is returning back to the A-2 Test Stand at NASA's Stennis Space Center for its second round of tests. 

The developmental engine underwent an initial series of tests last year. 

Both the engine and test stand have been modified to begin simulated altitude testing in the coming months.

The J-2X engine is designed and built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

It is the first human-rated liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket engine to be developed in 40 years. 

The J-2X will provide upper-stage power for NASA's Space Launch System, a new heavy-lift vehicle capable of missions beyond low-Earth orbit.

Credit: NASA/SSC

Romanian Helen Rocket space launch postponed

Inclement weather postponed Friday's launch of the Helen Rocket -- Romania's first attempt to reach space, authorities said.

Officials from the Aeronautics and Cosmonautics Romanian Association were to try again Saturday to launch Helen over the Black Sea with the aid of Romanian Military Marine officials and a balloon, Romanian Hot News reported.

The world's largest solar balloon is to lift Helen to an altitude of about 8 miles before the rocket's engines fire and propel it into suborbital space.

The project's final phase calls for the retrieval from the Black Sea of video and radio equipment to be sent up with Helen.

The use of a solar balloon and oxygenated water, an ecologically sustainable fuel, to launch a rocket is a first, researchers said.