An X-15 in pink....

[sparky00]

I realized that after I had posted. It does make one wonder how they came to know the ablator was explosive when exposed to LOX.

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Originally Posted by sparky00

I realized that after I had posted. It does make one wonder how they came to know the ablator was explosive when exposed to LOX.

I imagine some scene in which you see a couple of scientists coming out of a door in a blaze of grey smoke, with shredded lab coats, messy hair and sooty faces, one saying: "Don't do that EVER again, Carl".

[dhanners]

Or there could be issues with leather. From Wikipedia:

The X-1E was the result of a reconstruction of the X-1-2 (serial 46-063), in order to pursue the goals originally set for the X-1D and X-1-3 (serial 46-064), both lost by explosions during 1951. The cause of the mysterious explosions was finally traced to the use of Ulmer leather gaskets impregnated with tricresyl phosphate (TCP), a leather treatment, which was used in the liquid oxygen plumbing. TCP becomes unstable and explosive in the presence of pure oxygen and mechanical shock. This mistake cost two lives, caused injuries and lost several aircraft.

[sparky00]

I kinda figured is was something like that that.