Space Shuttle engineer dies after fall from launch tower

A SHUTTLE worker died after falling from the launch tower at Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre while preparing Endeavour for its farewell mission.

Federal law enforcement officials, assisted by local police, are looking into the incident at Launch Complex 39A, after James Vanover, 53, an engineer with the programme for 28 years, was found dead early yesterday morning.

Nasa declined to classify his fatal fall from the 347ft high platform as an accident, stating that it was being referred to only as "an incident" pending further investigation. Mr Vanover had been set to lose his job this summer, as part of a programme of 9,000 lay-offs across Nasa's shuttle programme.

Paramedics were called to the scene, but were unable to revive Mr Vanover.

Allard Beutel, a Kennedy Space Centre (KSC) spokesman, said: "He was on the launch tower and fell to another part of the launch tower."

The investigation into Mr Vanover's death is being led by KSC's own law enforcement department, assisted by Cape Canaveral police.

Accidents are rare at KSC, where safety regulations are strictly enforced and workers are drilled in hazard mitigation measures as they tend to the most complex vehicle ever built.

Endeavour was moved to the launch pad last week, ready for its 19 April launch, which will be its last as Nasa prepares to end its 30-year shuttle programme.

Contractor United Space Alliance's engineers and technicians manage the day-to-day processing of the shuttles for Nasa. But 1,200 of its workers were laid off in October and the bulk of the remainder will lose their jobs this summer after Endeavour and its sister ship Atlantis, scheduled to fly in June, return to Earth for the last time. Discovery was retired last week after completing its final mission.

Though Nasa has been granted federal funds for a job assistance programme aimed at helping redundant workers find new jobs, communities on Florida's so-called Space Coast are braced for economic distress after the shuttle era closes. Many of KSC's workers have worked on the shuttle fleet for decades and face bleak job prospects elsewhere.

All shuttle processing operations were put on hold in the wake of Mr Vanover's death to give workers time to grieve and to facilitate an investigation.

Mr Beutel said: "We need to give our workers an opportunity to absorb the news and are offering any assistance they need, including counselling services."

Virginia Barnes, chief executive of United Space Alliance, said: "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 co-workers.

"We are also 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." Endeavour will be commanded by Mark Kelly, a US navy captain and Nasa astronaut whose wife, congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, was shot at a political event in Arizona in January.

Ms Giffords is expected to be allowed out of rehabilitation centre in Houston, Texas, to attend the launch in Florida, having staged what doctors describe as an extraordinary recovery.