Conference 7.286::space

107.0. "VAFB Employee Falls to Death" by PYRITE::WEAVER () Thu Dec 05 1985 13:28

Associated Press Wed 04-DEC-1985 21:43                       Shuttle-Accident

       Shuttle Worker Falls to Death at Air Force Base

   VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) - An iron worker fell to
his death Wednesday while bolting a platform onto the 18th floor of
a 285-foot launch building for the space shuttle.
   The body of the man, whose name was not immediately released,
was transported to the Santa Barbara County coroner's office, said
Air Force Lt. Sharon Walker. Air Force officials planned an
investigation into the 2:45 p.m. accident, she said.
   The victim was one of several hundred private construction
workers who are putting finishing touches on a complex of launch
buildings, Ms. Walker said. He worked for a company called Hensel
Phelps, based in Greeley, Colo.
   The first shuttle launch from the base 125 miles northwest of
Los Angeles is planned in July 1986. Construction began in 1979.
   Ms. Walker said she didn't know if there have been any other
fatal accidents connected with the construction. One employee
suffered a stroke at the site, but that was considered unrelated to
the work, she said.
   The mobile service tower on which the man had been working is
shaped like an inverted ``L'' and carries a 200-ton crane at its
top, Ms. Walker said.
   The open-framework structure, which can be rolled on railroad
tracks to the launch platform, will mate with a mobile shuttle
assembly building to enclose the launch area and provide space for
workers preparing the shuttle, she added.