Engineer killed on Endeavour launch pad

NASA reports that a worker was killed following a fall at Kennedy Space Centre's launch pad 39A this morning.

United Space Alliance engineer James D. Vanover fell at around 11:40 GMT. "NASA emergency medical personnel responded, but they were unable to revive the man," the agency says.

NASA has suspended work at the launch pad for the rest of the day to focus on "our workers and for the family of the USA employee".

United Space Alliance CEO Virginia Barnes said: "Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to the family of Mr. Vanover. Our focus right now is on providing support for the family, and for his coworkers.

"We are also providing our full support to investigating officials in order to determine the cause of the incident as quickly as possible. Until that investigation is complete, it would be inappropriate to provide further comment on the details."

Space Shuttle endeavour is currently at the pad ahead of its scheduled 19 April launch on the STS-134 mission to the ISS. ®