On Monday, I wrote about my experience at the X Prize Cup. I promised pictures. They're up today on the flickr feed. As good old Abe used to say, people who like that sort of thing will find that the sort of thing they like.

Anyway, as I said on Monday, I was about 300 feet away from the Starchaser rocket engine when it malfunctioned. It sort of exploded. The plate that was riveted to the back came off, and there was a huge flow of kerosene and liquid oxygen. Have a look:


Initial ignition.



Normal rocket engine activity at this point. I mean, I guess.



I think this is where things took a turn for the worst...



...because this doesn't look good.



Stunned silence. Check out the bigger image for a better look at their reactions.