CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A series of anthrax scares that swept across Kennedy Space Center Tuesday turned out to be false alarms, but NASA officials here are urging mail handlers and other workers to remain vigilant in the face of a nationwide alert.
On a day in which congressional leaders ordered an unprecedented shutdown of the House of Representatives in Washington, D.C., officials here said suspect parcels and white powder found on a mail handlers trousers tested negative for anthrax in state lab tests.
A parallel investigation also determined that there is no evidence that suspicious packages found in KSC mailrooms were shipped as part of a hoax.
"The test results were all negative," said KSC spokesman George Diller. "There was also nothing we identified as an intentional hoax that would warrant criminal investigation. So were pleased with the outcome."
NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, meanwhile, told employees to tune into NASA TV at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) Thursday for a training session aimed at teaching workers how to recognize and handle suspicious packages.
"I think its important that we be aware of it, but as the president says, life has to go on. We cannot give in to the scare tactics of these terrible people that are trying to disrupt life in America," Goldin said.
"So were going to do whats necessary to take precautions and be safe."
Two FBI agents and a KSC surgeon ferried a pair of trousers and at least one package to a state laboratory Tuesday after suspicious parcels were discovered in five different mailrooms here at the home of the nations $8 billion shuttle fleet.
The rash of discoveries began about midmorning Tuesday at a building in which parts of shuttle solid rocket boosters are assembled and then refurbished after flight.
An unidentified mail handler at the so-called Assembly and Refurbishment Facility noticed during the course of normal work that white powder was covering his or her trousers.
The mail handler dialed 911, reported the situation and KSC security responded along with a fire and rescue squad, a hazardous materials team and a bioenvironmental group from nearby Patrick Air Force Base.
NASA moved quickly to evacuate and close down its central post office here at KSC, which is the main distribution point for all mail delivered to NASAs coastal Florida spaceport.
Then, over the course of the day, suspicious substances were found in mailrooms at three other buildings here, including the Space Station Processing Facility, where components for the International Space Station are readied for flight.
As it turns out, the finds prompted NASA to temporarily shut down all mailrooms here at KSC, but most were inspected and cleared before the end of business Tuesday.
The centers main post office and the mailroom at the Assembly and Refurbishment Facility were reopened Wednesday.
The discoveries came the day after center-wide training sessions aimed at teaching mail handlers how to recognize and handle suspicious parcels. Mail handlers also were given specific procedures for notifying authorities in the event that suspicious packages were found.
NASA officials, meanwhile, are asking mail handlers and other workers here at the center to continue keeping a close eye out for suspicious packages.
"We could be going through this again, and well take it just as seriously the next time," Diller said. "We want our employees to be on alert."
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