Some California Residents Say Debris From SpaceShipTwo Accident Potentially Endangered People On The Ground

Some residents of California say that federal regulators may not be adequately protecting the public from potential accident during spacecraft testing following release of documents related to the accident which destroyed SpaceShipTwo.

According to the documents, the disintegrating spacecraft created a debris field that encompassed over 33 miles of desert northeast of Los Angeles. The cockpit section of the spacecraft fell near a road where two trucks had just passed one another. Truck driver Ricky Valenzuela of Lancaster, CA said that the cockpit section impacted the ground "30 or 40 feet behind my truck."

Other debris came down near a high school in Ridgecrest, CA ... about 30 miles away from the main wreckage, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.

Another document reportedly shows that the FAA issued a launch permit for the spacecraft despite the warning of a safety consultant that said Scaled Composites was violating regulations. FAA commercial space office safety engineer Thomas Martin said that managers often overruled concerns when it came to Scaled's operations.

Scaled executives told the NTSB that, based on their conversations with FAA personnel, they were in compliance with all regulations. They also said that they had never sought a waiver from FAA regulations, nor were they told by the FAA that one was needed.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.faa.gov