Article View: sci.space.shuttle
Article #6191Fatalities?
From: Edwin Wiles
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1990 18:29
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 1990 18:29
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1567 bytes
Recently seen in "Air&Space", February/March 1990 (reprinted w/o permission):
1981 March 19
Two hours after a successful countdown rehersal for space shuttle
Columbia, a Rockwell technician is killed and four others injured at
Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39-A. The five men had entered a
compartment near the shuttle's engines and immediately passed out from
hypoxia. Unbeknownst to the technicians, the compartment was being
purged with nitrogen -- a colorless, odorless gas -- to prevent the
accumulation of flammable gases around the engines. "We just don't
know why the men were in that area while a nitrogen purg was going on,"
said a Kennedy spokesman. An investigation concluded that lack of
communication among work crews led to the fatal accident.
I find this odd, because I kept a VERY good watch for news regarding the
space program, and I NEVER saw or heard anything about this until now.
Was there nothing reported in the regular news services?
"Who?... Me?... WHAT opinions?!?" | Edwin Wiles
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Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!rutgers!pyrnj!pyrdc!netxcom!netxdev!ewiles From: ewiles@netxdev.DHL.COM (Edwin Wiles) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Fatalities? Message-ID: <3467@netxcom.DHL.COM> Date: 31 Jan 90 18:29:15 GMT Sender: news@netxcom.DHL.COM Lines: 23