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  Exporting space shuttle parts outside the U.S.

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Author Topic:   Exporting space shuttle parts outside the U.S.
rpatrick
Member

Posts: 41
From: Pisa, ITALY
Registered: Jan 2010

posted 07-08-2010 09:52 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for rpatrick   Click Here to Email rpatrick     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I won an item on an auction that is a piece of shuttle rocket booster. After 20 days, the seller told me that FedEx cannot ship it to me in Italy, but also everywhere because they put it on an X-Ray panel and for them is something dangerous because it has a shape of a rocket. I paid a lot for shipping. Is it true that such thing cannot go outside US and cannot be shipped also inside US?

It's strange that I heard at a recent auctions (Aurora, etc.) that only items with restrictions on shipping are the shuttle tiles and the rocket fuel samples - these only cannot be exported from the US.

Who knows and have some written or link of regulations and restrictions for US shipping items? Who knows something and have experience on it?

I will send my questions also to the major U.S. carriers just like FedEx and USPS to know if is an excuse for the seller to not to send it to me (cause I won it but he has rethought go back) or is really true what he wrote me about FedEx.

apolloprojeckt
Member

Posts: 1447
From: Arnhem, Netherlands
Registered: Feb 2009

posted 07-08-2010 09:53 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for apolloprojeckt   Click Here to Email apolloprojeckt     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have the same problem once... the seller has to know this, first I do not understand, I asking it to a space hardware collector and he written to me this:
There are restrictions on export of aerospace technology from the United States, mostly because of the potential for it to be "Dual Use" meaning that it can be adapted for use on weapon systems by countries who are not friendly to the U.S. and its allies.

SpaceAholic
Member

Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-08-2010 10:22 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
There is a lot of confusion, compounded by inconsistent interpretation and enforcement of commodity export restrictions imposed under US Department of State International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR). These are the statutes which address potential dual use issues.

Also separate Department of Transportation policy/rules associated with hazardous material movement addressing shipment of things like rocket propellants.

Rather then having to sort through the maze of laws, its easier for sellers to default to not exporting instead of placing themselves at risk of inviting unwanted attention from federal authorities.

rpatrick
Member

Posts: 41
From: Pisa, ITALY
Registered: Jan 2010

posted 07-08-2010 10:35 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for rpatrick   Click Here to Email rpatrick     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
So in according to US regulations, is it possible as you know to ship overseas an empty metal part and legally owned piece of space shuttle as scrap? It's not a tiles and sample of rocket propellants but just only a metal scrap.

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-08-2010 10:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Per past discussions on this topic with appropriate representatives from NASA, ATK and other contractors, no part of an engine, motor, rocket or missile can be exported outside the country without first obtaining permission from the State Department.

For most international collectors' intents and purposes that translates to no space shuttle hardware can legally leave the country unless the dealer specifically has authorization to the contrary.

David Bryant
Member

Posts: 986
From: Norfolk UK
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 07-08-2010 11:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for David Bryant   Click Here to Email David Bryant     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The whole 'restricted ordnance' thing is beginning to look a little silly, in my opinion, now that the shuttle's days are nearly over and the tiles are obsolete technology!

SpaceAholic
Member

Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-08-2010 12:05 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceAholic   Click Here to Email SpaceAholic     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Not obsolete to nations like Iran who are working aggressively to develop nuclear tipped ICBM's and who have committed to use them to exterminate Israel (thermal protection systems are an enabling technology for survival of warheads during exo-atmospheric reentry).

spaceman
Member

Posts: 1104
From: Walsall, West Midlands, UK
Registered: Dec 2002

posted 07-08-2010 01:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for spaceman   Click Here to Email spaceman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Tile material is available albeit in small pieces from U.S space gift shops and other retailers online and I'm sure ships worldwide.

Rocket Chris
Member

Posts: 342
From:
Registered: Nov 2009

posted 07-08-2010 04:51 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Rocket Chris   Click Here to Email Rocket Chris     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
And what about complete tiles?

Robert Pearlman
Editor

Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 07-08-2010 05:15 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The rule of thumb as it applies to loose (un-encapsulated, i.e. outside of lucite) tiles -- regardless if they are whole or fragments -- is that if they were fabricated for or flown on the space shuttle they may not be exported without a State Department waiver.

The tile material that is packaged and sold in gift shops is similar to but not identical to what is used on the space shuttle. It is purposely fabricated differently.

Tile samples that were fabricated for Columbia prior to STS-1 (as offered by The Space Store and others in the past) have been legally cleared for export.

Tiles inside lucite (acrylic) appear to be handled differently, as the NASA STS-1 tile presentations and the more recent Astronaut Scholarship Foundation Artifact Series lucite both have received permission for export.

All times are CT (US)

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