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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
And what about complete tiles? |
Robert Pearlman Editor Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 07-08-2010 05:15 PM
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. |