Rocket pioneer Burt Ratan's space tourism company has been fined $25,870 for an accident that killed three workers at its test site in Mojave, Calif.
Scaled Composites was fined by state authorities for violating workplace safety codes, including failing to properly train workers to handle hazardous materials, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.
Eric Blackwell, 38, Charles May, 45, and Todd Ivens, 33, were killed in an explosion at the Mojave Air and Space Port July 26. Three other workers were hurt in the blast when nitrous oxide ignited during a test of the spacecraft's propellant system, the Times reported.
The violations since have been corrected and no criminal charges have been filed against the company, which in 2004 became the first private firm to launch a reusable manned rocket into space.
