Aircraft builder fined.

Scaled Composites, a space tourism company recently acquired by aerospace giant Northrop Grumman Corp., was fined more than $25,000 this month for workplace safety violations that resulted in the deaths of three employees last summer.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health cited the company for five separate violations--including failing to train its workers to properly handle nitrous oxide--as a result of the deadly July 26 explosion during testing of a rocket propulsion system at the company's Mojave facilities. Three other workers were injured in the blast.

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"We cooperated fully with 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," the company said in a statement.

No criminal charges have been filed.

Scaled Composites, founded in 1982 by aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan, launched Space-ShipOne in 2004. It was the first private manned rocket to reach space.

The July explosion occurred during work on the follow-up to that vehicle--a private spaceship being built for Virgin Galactic.

Northrop first invested in Scaled Composites in 2000. Last summer, shortly before the incident, Northrop increased its stake in the company to 100 percent, which analysts said was likely a move designed to gain the company's proprietary technology.

Staff reporter Richard Clough can be reached at [phone], ext. 251, or at [e-mail].