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Space shuttle worker killed in fall at U.S. launchpad

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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Mon Mar 14, 2011 4:16pm EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A worker fell to his death at the space shuttle launch pad in Florida on Monday and NASA said it was investigating the accident.

James Vanover, an engineer with prime shuttle contractor United Space Alliance, died after a fall at Kennedy Space Center's Launch Pad 39A, where the space shuttle Endeavour is being prepared for liftoff on April 19 on NASA's next-to-last shuttle mission.

The accident happened at around 7:40 a.m. NASA said emergency medical personnel responded, but they were unable to revive Vanover.

The agency suspended work at the launch pad for the rest of the day and set up a team to investigate,

"We are providing our full support to investigating officials in order to determine the cause of the incident as quickly as possible. Until that investigation is complete, it would be inappropriate to provide further comment on the details," United Space Alliance said in a statement.

The company is a joint venture between the Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp.

Endeavour is scheduled to deliver the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector to the International Space Station. NASA plans to end the shuttle program after sister ship Atlantis makes its final flight in June.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Jane Sutton)
U.S.
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