Not rocket surgery

No one was injured when a rocket fuel mixture exploded near Hitchcock, TX, but the retired NASA scientist working on the project might've needed a change of underwear.

Authorities say Jim Akkerman was working on a new spacecraft his firm is developing when the rocket fuel exploded. The methane-oxygen fuel mixture accumulated in the rocket engine when the engine wouldn't fire.

"It's just an experiment that went bad," said police chief Glen Manis.

Akkerman's firm, Advent Launch Services, is trying to develop a winged rocket that would take off vertically, but land horizontally on the ocean like a seaplane.

Full story here.