Local News in Brief : Rocket Lab Engineer Recovering From Blast
A Rocketdyne engineer was in fair condition Friday after surgery for injuries suffered in a blast that occurred while he was mixing rocket fuels, officials said.
Richard Kistner, 52, was recovering Friday at UCLA Medical Center, where he underwent surgery to amputate his left hand and was treated for second- and third-degree burns to his face and stomach, a hospital spokesman said. He was listed in fair condition.
Kistner had been working in a one-man lab, mixing solid propellants used to make rocket fuel, when the explosion occurred about 10:30 a.m. Thursday in a Rocketdyne field lab in the Santa Susana Mountains, said Pat Coulter, a company spokesman.
The cause of the accident is still under investigation, Coulter said. He said it would probably be two or three days before investigators could release any information about the blast.
Rocketdyne is a division of Rockwell International Corp., which builds and tests the main engines of the space shuttle as well as various military rockets.
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