posted 10-07-2010 10:29 AM               

In the Line of Duty

The Space Walk of Fame Foundation (SWOFF) will hold a memorial for the workers who died doing their jobs at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), and Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Tuesday, October 19, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Apollo monument in Space View Park, Titusville, Florida.

Bob Crippen, former KSC director and shuttle astronaut, and Bob Cabana, KSC center director and shuttle astronaut, will lead the service.

All the names (below) are engraved on one of the Apollo monument pylons, and will be transferred to a straight based pylon as soon additional funding allows.

SWOFF has been pursuing this for many years. Mercury program veteran Murphy Wardman took this on as his personal goal. He spent over a year trying to get the information and working with SWOFF's Chief Engineer, Warren Lackie, to make it real.

• July 9, 1958 - Fred D. Adams
  Position: Maintenance employee
  Company: Pan Am

  Event: Died when he fell from Atlas service tower into an elevator shaft.

  Fred was the very first fatality at the Cape.

• January 28, 1960 - Morris Carter
  Position: Laborer
  Company: B.B. McCormack

  Event: Killed by a truck while watering down compacted earth for a Saturn pad.

• June 14, 1960 - Joseph G. Sibole
  Position: Technician
  Company: Martin

  Event: Killed while conducting a system check on the Titan when a tiny explosive charge blew up and ignited a flare package attached to the side of the intercontinental range rocket. Sibole's death is the first at the Cape attributed directly to a missile mishap.

• May 21, 1961 - Eugene M. Martin
  Position: Security guard
  Company: Pan Am

  Event: Killed by lightning while directing traffic during Armed Forces Day open house.

• March 28, 1961 - Harbin Daril Revis
  Position: Assistant crane operator
  Company: Leonard Brothers

  Event: Killed in the industrial area of the Cape when the bucket of the crane swung around and hit the "hot" wire.

• July 8, 1962 - Sgt. H. Smith
  Assigned to the 6555th Aerospace Test Wing

  Event: Was fatally injured when he fell into an elevator shaft while performing maintenance on Complex 11 gantry.

• August 23, 1963 - Airman McCubbin
  Assigned to GEIIA

  Event: Was fatally injured in a fall from an 80 foot antenna tower. He was dismantling the tower at the time of accident.

• March 13, 1964 - Vernon Emkey
  Position: Iron Worker
  Company: American Bridge & Iron Co.

  Event: Was killed when he fell 38 feet from a Titan III Complex structure.

• April 14, 1964 (event) - Sidney J. Dagle
  Position: Missile technician
  Company: Ball Brothers Research Corp.

  Event: Died April 17, 1964 as a result of 3rd stage (X-248) rocket motor explosion in the Delta Spin Test Facility.

• April 14, 1964 (event) - L. D. Gabel
  Position: Missile technician
  Company: Ball Brothers Research Corp.

  Event: Died April 18, 1964 as a result of 3rd stage (X-248) rocket motor explosion in the Delta Spin Test Facility.

• April 14, 1964 (event) - John W. (Jack) Fassett
  Position: Space Craft Coordinator
  Space Center: GSFC

  Event: Died May 5, 1964 as a result of 3rd stage (X-248) rocket motor explosion in the Delta Spin Test Facility.

• April 27, 1964 - Phillipe Bengas

  Event: Died as a result of an explosion aboard a range supply ship Gulf Stream at Grand Turk.

  Phillipe was working down range support for the Apollo Program.

• July 2, 1964 - Oscar Simmons
  Position: Construction worker
  Company: American Bridge & Iron Co.

  Event: Died in accidental fall from 26th level of the VAB.

• October 27, 1964 - William Pemberton
  Company: Martin Company

  Event: Killed when the forklift he was driving on Complex 19 perimeter road flipped over on him.

• April 28, 1965 - Jerry B. Baker
  Position: Construction worker
  Company: McDowell-Wellman Eng. Co.

  Event: Killed near the base of Complex 34 mobile service tower when a 15 foot section of 5 inch structural steel pipe, cut out of the service tower as part of a modification, fell 188 feet and struck him.

• May 4, 1965 - Marion J. Anderson
  Position: Truck Driver
  Company: Glover Brick

  Event: Killed while walking in the VAB transfer isle between towers B and E of the high bay when a 12 foot wooden form fell 457 feet from the 37th floor and struck him.

• August 3, 1965 - Albert J. Treib
  Position: Construction superintendent
  Company: George Fuller Const. Co.

  Event: Killed by lightning at LC-39 pad B when pouring concrete from a crane bucket into forms 40 feet up on the launching pad.

• March 16, 1966 - V. S. Evans
  Position: Electrician
  Company: MeVa Corp.

  Event: Killed while working on updating a Saturn 1B facility when he was struck by a descending elevator at Complex 37.

• July 28, 1966 - James O. Dorminy Jr.
  Position: Heavy equipment operator
  Company: Trans World Airlines

  Event: Killed during a rainstorm when an earthmover he was riding on rolled over on him.

• January 27, 1967 - Virgil "Gus" Grissom
  Position: Astronaut Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

  Event: Died when a flash fire occurred in the command module during launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle at Complex 34 and known as the Apollo I fire.

• January 27, 1967 - Edward H. White, II
  Position: Astronaut Lieutenant Colonel, USAF

  Event: Died when a flash fire occurred in the command module during launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle at Complex 34 and known as the Apollo I fire.

• January 27, 1967 - Roger Bruce Chaffee
  Position: Astronaut Lieutenant Commander, USN

  Event: Died when a flash fire occurred in the command module during launch pad test of the Apollo/Saturn space vehicle at Complex 34 and known as the Apollo I fire.

• May 16, 1968 - William B. Estes
  Position: Mechanic
  Company: Bendix Corporation

  Event: Died at LC-39 pad A, in preparation for the Mobile Service Structure arrival. A faulty gage indicated it was safe to remove a pipe cap from the pad 150 psi water supply line. The pressure released the iron cap when he started disconnecting it and it struck his chest.

• July 31, 1972 - Darrell Ramsey

  Event: Died when he fell 52 feet and landed on the second floor level of the Launch Complex 34. Darrell worked for a Columbia, SC Company that was dismantling Pads 34 and 37.

• March 19, 1981 (event) - John Bjornstad
  Position: Mechanical technician
  Company: Rockwell International

  Event: Died at LC-39 pad A from exposure to gaseous nitrogen conditions when entering the Orbiter aft compartment following a countdown demonstration test, prior to the first Space Shuttle launch.

• March 19, 1981 (event) - Forrest Cole
  Position: Quality Control
  Company: Rockwell International

  Event: Died April 1, 1981 resulting from exposure to gaseous nitrogen conditions when entering the Orbiter aft compartment following a countdown demonstration test, prior to the first Space Shuttle launch.

• March 19, 1981 (event) - Nick Mullon
  Position: Mechanical technician
  Company: Rockwell International

  Event: Died as a result of complications from gaseous nitrogen exposure after entering the orbiter aft compartment following a countdown demonstration test prior to the first space shuttle launch.

• May 7, 1981 - Anthony Hill
  Position: Construction worker
  Company: Wilholt International Corp.

  Event: Died after falling 110 feet at LC39 pad B.

• June 10, 1981 - Beau Sauselein
  Position: Titusville Fire Fighter
  Company: U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service

  Event: Died at KSC after becoming trapped during firefighting.

• June 10, 1981 - Scott Maness
  Position: Titusville Fire Fighter
  Company: U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service

  Event: Died at KSC after becoming trapped during firefighting.

• June 8, 1985 - Robert E. "Champ" Murphy
  Company: BSI

  Event: Lost foot in a Halon cylinder incident on March 2, 1978 and died as a result of the effects of the Halon exposure on June 8, 1985.

• March 24, 1986 - Joseph L. Tyre
  Position: Construction worker
  Company: Cherokee Steel Erectors

  Event: Died after falling 90 feet while installing a bridge crane in the Cargo Hazardous Servicing Facility.

• April 4, 1988 - Lori Kay Gillan Laubenheimer
  Position: Laboratory Assistant
  Company: EG&G Environmental

  Event: Died in an auto accident when a KSC tour bus ran a stop light.

• July 27, 1989 - Clarence E. Hailey
  Position: Electrical worker
  Company: EG&G

  Event: Died after falling from a platform in the VAB.

• July 8, 2001 - Barton Stanley
  Position: Construction worker
  Company: Precision Fabricating & Cleaning

  Event: Killed by pipe coupling during disassembly of pressurized pipe at LC37.

• August 24, 2001 - Constantine "Gus" Valantasis
  Position: Painter
  Company: Valant Painting Inc.

  Event: Died moments after falling 34 feet inside Hanger I CCAFS.

• October 1, 2001 - Bill Brooks
  Position: Crane Operator
  Company: Boeing Company

  Event: Killed at LC37 while performing maintenance on Mobile Tower Crane.

• March 17, 2006 - Steven Owens
  Position: Roofer
  Company: Space Gateway Support

  Event: Died after falling from facility (SLSL) roof.

posted 10-08-2010 11:30 AM               

The Apollo 1 crew were killed in a ground test at KSC. They fall in the category of the rest of the workers who died at KSC.

posted 10-12-2010 01:42 PM               

Downrange on a ship in the ocean qualifies, but not a spacecraft (which was geographically closer to the Cape) in the air? It doesn't make sense to me, but then again, it's not my memorial. For example, if a chase plane (or a fire-fighting aircraft) crashed in the ocean off of KSC during a shuttle launch, would that crew be included on the memorial? I would think that would be proper. At what point does the logic get fuzzy?

posted 10-20-2010 10:23 PM               

For Palm Bay resident Sally Ann Fassett Maldona, Tuesday's memorial ceremony for space workers who died in the line of duty was one that her late husband, John W. "Jack" Fassett, would have appreciated...

She and other family members gathered shortly before sunset Tuesday for a memorial service at Space View Park in downtown Titusville, where a new monument containing the names of space workers who died in the line of duty has been erected.

Former Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Crippen, who addressed the crowd of about 200, said the memorial was "long overdue."

posted 05-06-2011 02:53 AM               

July 1, 1959 (Event date) - Edward Mann
Position: Missile technician?
Company: ?
Event: Fell from 12 foot ladder Wed, July 1, 1959, while preparing a Snark missile for flight. He died Sat, July 4, 1959 as a result of injuries from the accident.