A local rocket scientist expressed concern that people picking
up pieces of debris from the space shuttle Columbia could be
contaminated by chemicals from its propellant.
A local rocket scientist expressed concern that people picking up pieces of debris from the space shuttle Columbia could be contaminated by chemicals from its propellant.
“None of the propellant was in the shuttle itself, but if some was scattered against it in its sudden disassembly the contaminated debris could pose a danger to anyone who touched it,” said Bill Colburn, a Hollister native who has been involved in rocketry all his life.
“Hydrozine could cause complications if one was exposed to it for awhile,” he said. “However, nitrogen tetraoxide is extremely toxic and even a minute bit of it could hit the body like an electric shock. Those exposed to it could be in real trouble.”
The federal government has requested that anyone in the general site of the location near the Texas/Louisiana border who sees shuttle debris or what might be shuttle debris to notify officials. Those who remove debris as personal souvenirs are subject to fines of $250,000 or 10 years in prison.
NASA will put together all the pieces it can find to try to determine the cause of the disaster.
“In my view, those who carry pieces of debris away as souvenirs are committing crimes against humanity,” Colburn said.
The seven-person crew of the Columbia died Saturday when the shuttle disintegrated about 16 minutes before its scheduled touchdown at Cape Canaveral. Six Americans, including an Indian-born woman, and an Israeli national died.
Colburn noted that it was only the second disaster in 113 flights. The first was on Jan. 28, 1986 when the shuttle Challenger exploded just 74 seconds after lift-off, killing all seven crew members.
“It’s sad, but astronauts fully realize the risks involved,” Colburn said. “They are explorers, and explorers are not as likely to die at home as most people.”
When he was a youth, Colburn and two friends launched the first sugar-based rocket in the San Benito River bed in the 1940s. He was a member of the Apollo Project and recently was granted funds by NASA to work on developing a safe propellant for a rocket motor he and Don Platt, president of Microsafe Aerospace Solutions of Melbourne, Fla. have designed for firing micro-satellites from the shuttle bay.
The Hollister Space Project, which Colburn heads, has fired eight rockets in the past five years. The rockets are assembled at Hollister Airport and the detonators are attached to them in the desert just before launching.