Asbestos bricks from NASA are potentially fatal, but I'm tempted


When the space shuttle Discovery launched in May of this year, its thrusters damaged one of NASA's most significant launch sites, and caused bricks containing asbestos to be thrown long distances, some travelling more than a mile.

The launch site was Pad 39A, from which the first manned landing on the moon took off. Aside from that most famous countdown, many other Saturn V rockets were launched, including the one carrying Skylab, the American space station that fell to earth in 1979. Then, the Australian province into which the debris fell fined the American government $400; the debris from the 2008 accident, because of its asbestos content, has caused NASA a bigger headache than that.

The reason this debris contains the potentially lethal fibres, which can cause asbestosis and mesothelioma, is that the blocks were used to line a fire trench that would channel the flames away from the space vehicles, and the material's fireproof qualities were thought ideal for this purpose. In the 2008 accident, it seems that a tiny fracture allowed the shuttle's blast-off to impose an irresistible force on the bricks during take-off.

This left the space organisation needing to clean up the area appropriately, which called for hazardous material teams to come in, which seems to have gone ahead as would be expected. But there's been a call from one space fan - and I have a sneaking empathy for his call - for the bricks to be preserved somehow, as souvenirs for the people who are excited about space travel.

Had it been back in the eighties, when I was still young enough to be building futuristic complexes and flying machines out of Space Lego - I'm the right age to have been excited about the introduction of visored helmets, but you get no more than that - I'd have wanted one of those bricks, toxic dangers or not. Now, not so much, but the legacy of that lego-building child has a little resonance still.

And there seem to be plenty of people sharing that resonance on a stronger level. I found an internet forum where the topic was under discussion, and the level of eagerness to own a little piece of space travel history was palpable. Even after someone claiming to be a NASA contractor pointed out that it's not just asbestos on these bricks, but all sorts of aftertastes from experimental fuels and suchlike with the potential to cause similarly experimental diseases and personal injury claims.

The space fan calling for preservation pointed out that they could be enclosed in some form of clear resin or acrylic, which he believes would make them safe. This is a similar idea to the thoughts underpinning asbestos management in terrestrial locations - it is possible to protect against potential exposure, and therefore against mesothelioma and so on, by preventing the fibres from becoming airborne.

Of course, pipe lagging in a factory isn't the kind of desirable thing that fans would risk their lungs to touch by taking off the coating; the bricks might be. Maybe it's for our own good that they're not available...

Can I claim?