Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:13:04 -0500
At about 7:40 a.m. EDT this morning, a United Space Alliance worker fell at NASA Kennedy Space Centre's Launch Pad 39A. NASA emergency medical personnel responded, but they were unable to revive the man. Because of medical privacy, currently we're not able to release any additional details about this fatality. Family members are being notified.
All work at Launch Pad 39A has been suspended for the rest of the day, and counselling and other employee assistance are being provided to workers. Right now our focus is on our workers and for the family of the USA employee.
The incident is under investigation.
A three percent scale model of a blended wing body aircraft design recently was tested in NASA Langley's 12-Foot Low-Speed Tunnel. During the testing, engineers sought to clarify results from a previous test of the X-48C prototype in the Langley Full Scale Tunnel. The blended wing body is a hybrid shape that resembles a flying wing, but also incorporates features from conventional transport aircraft. This combination offers several advantages over conventional tube-and wing airframes. The BWB airframe merges efficient high-lift wings with a wide airfoil-shaped body, allowing the entire aircraft to generate lift and minimize drag. This shape helps to increase fuel economy and creates larger payload (cargo or passenger) areas in the center body portion of the aircraft. NASA and its industry partners have been investigating the blended wing aircraft concept for potential use as a future air transport for both civilian and military applications. Image Credit: NASA Langley/Sean Smith
