NASA's Wallops Flight Facility
The Wallops Incident Response Team completed today an initial assessment of Wallops Island, Virginia, following the catastrophic failure of Orbital Science Corp.’s Antares rocket shortly after liftoff at 6:22 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Oct. 28, from Pad 0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
“I want to praise the launch team, range safety, all of our emergency responders and those who provided mutual aid and support on a highly-professional response that ensured the safety of our most important resource -- our people,” said Bill Wrobel, Wallops director. “In the coming days and weeks ahead, we'll continue to assess the damage on the island and begin the process of moving forward to restore our space launch capabilities. There's no doubt in my mind that we will rebound stronger than ever.”
The initial assessment is a cursory look; it will take many more weeks to further understand and analyze the full extent of the effects of the event. A number of support buildings in the immediate area have broken windows and imploded doors. A sounding rocket launcher adjacent to the pad, and buildings nearest the pad, suffered the most severe damage.
At Pad 0A the initial assessment showed damage to the transporter erector launcher and lightning suppression rods, as well as debris around the pad.
The Wallops team also met with a group of state and local officials, including the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, the Virginia Marine Police, and the U.S. Coast Guard.
The Wallops environmental team also is conducting assessments at the site. Preliminary observations are that the environmental effects of the launch failure were largely contained within the southern third of Wallops Island, in the area immediately adjacent to the pad. Immediately after the incident, the Wallops’ industrial hygienist collected air samples at the Wallops mainland area, the Highway 175 causeway, and on Chincoteague Island. No hazardous substances were detected at the sampled locations. Additional air, soil and water samples will be collected from the incident area as well as at control sites for comparative analysis.
The Coast Guard and Virginia Marine Resources Commission reported today they have not observed any obvious signs of water pollution, such as oil sheens. Furthermore, initial assessments have not revealed any obvious impacts to fish or wildlife resources. The Incident Response Team continues to monitor and assess.
Following the initial assessment, the response team will open the area of Wallops Island, north of the island flagpole opposite of the launch pad location, to allow the U.S. Navy to return back to work.
Anyone who finds debris or damage to their property in the vicinity of the launch mishap is cautioned to stay away from it and call the Incident Response Team at 757-824-1295.
Further updates on the situation and the progress of the ongoing investigation will be available at http://www.orbital.com/ andhttp://www.nasa.gov/orbital
10 comments:
Can't wait for the EPA assessment. Oh wait, that is just regular people and businesses that get fined.
I'm sure many Plover,Terns,and puppy drum perrished. Leave it up to big government to cause more damage to our environment then regular folks like us.. Blame fishermen for Plover deaths but let's burn an entire eco system..great Job NASA..!!!! But as usual this will never be brought to light!
Any tragedy that befalls NASA, short of loss of human life, is more then justly deserved.
NASA was born of Nazis and headed by Nazis and still today permeates Nazi.
Nazi Gen. Walter Dornberger, a "rabid Nazi" according to our own military intelligence, headed NASA. Nazi SS Major Wernher von Braun, a "true believer Nazi", you don't rise to the rank of major in the SS w/o proving your faith to Himmler, also headed NASA. The Nazi deception and sabotage within our space program goes even deeper and deeper.
If true US history interests you, especially post WWII era history, read Peter Levenda, I think he may even have a YouTube presentation or two.
While NASA is assuredly an economical boon for DelMarVa that doesn't excuse what they really are.
Defense mode has started.If NASA was a business that had to turn a profit to survive they would have gone belly up 40 years ago.
Any misfortune that befalls NASA, short of loss of human life, is more then justly deserved.
NASA was born of Nazi, headed by Nazi and still today oozes their Nazi history.
Nazi Gen. Walter Dornberger, a "rabid Nazi" according to our own military intelligence, headed NASA before moving to a position at Bell Aerospace. Nazi SS Major Wernher von Braun, a "faithful true believer Nazi", you don't rise to the rank of Major within the SS w/o proving your faith to Himmler, also headed NASA. Yet, this POS Nazi is still revered as the father of our space program. NASA's Nazi connection just goes deeper and deeper.
The Nazi presence within our space program is the sole reason that the Soviet Union was first to launch a satellite into orbit in 1957 despite the fact that the U.S. had the majority of and the cream of these German scientists. Our Nazi scientists had virtually no oversight whatsoever and routinely sent classified material to their East German Nazi brothers all the while sabotaging our program.
I could go on and on about NASA's indiscretions in Nazi involvement. However, if you're interested in true post WWII U.S. history (what you've been taught is a fairy tale) read Peter Levenda. I think he may have a YouTube lecture or two, also.
I do realize that NASA's presence here on DelMarVa does have economic benefits for us however, that alone doesn't excuse their deep rooted Nazi pandering.
it's been 50 years ago who cares about the Nazis now.
ginn: Are you hanging out with Laura Mitchell are just living in a cloud?
That is what happens when you use old Russian garbage rockets!!
"We want to keep our jobs regardless of how useless we are and regardless of the extent of environmental damage we do".That should have been his first sentence.This is why I can't stand press conference aimed at appeasing the taxpaying public.
9:23,right on,it looked like it didn't have enough power to get off the ground.
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