KSC Employee Dies in Launch Pad Accident

Yesterday, March 14, an engineer working at the Launch Pad 39A facility fell to his death from an elevated level, while working to prepare the space shuttle Endeavor for its upcoming launch.

The accident took place at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Cape Canaveral, Florida, at around 7:40 am EDT (1140 GMT). The victim's name was James D. Vanover, 53, and he had worked at the NASA facility for more than 28 years.

According to the space agency, the man was a swing arm engineer for United Space Alliance (USA), one of the main contractors that NASA has for operating the space shuttle fleet, and for conducting associated preparations.

“NASA emergency medical personnel did respond but they were unable to revive the man,” told Space Allard Beutel, a spokesman for NASA. He added that emergency responders rushed to the scene immediately, but that they were unable to do anything for Vanover.

At this point, an official investigation has been launched into the causes of the tragedy. For the remainder of the day, all work at the LP-39A facility was terminated, and the workers allowed to leave.

“Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the family of Mr. Vanover. Our focus right now is on providing support for the family, and for his coworkers,” said Virginia Barnes.

“We are also providing our full support to investigating officials in order to determine the cause of the incident as quickly as possible,” added Barnes. She is the CEO of United Space Alliance.

“Obviously, at least right now, our focus is on the work force and the family members of the employee. We're not doing any shuttle processing at the moment – definitely no work at the pad for the rest of the day,” Beutel added.

The accident is not likely to cause any delays for Endeavor's planned, April 19 take-off, NASA officials say. The spacecraft schedule has a week of extra time, which can be spent in a variety of manners.

At the same time, Beutel said that NASA is now more worried about the outcome of the investigation and the state of its employees than about that. Until now, there have been four deaths at this launch pad.

An additional one occurred at Launch Pad 39B, the second take-off facility at the KSC. That makes a total of at least 5 deaths at the space center from 1968 onwards.

Work on Endeavor resumed today, March 15, as the shuttle is being prepared to launch to the International Space Station (ISS). It will be carrying the most advanced particle detector ever flown to space, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS).

STS-134 will be Endeavor's final mission ever. Once it returns, it will be decommissioned, and put up for display in a museum, Space reports.