AN ENGINEER from Leyland who helped build the doomed space shuttle Columbia has spoken exclusively to The Citizen about his heartache following the deaths of the seven astronauts.

John Burrell, who works for NASA, watched with horror as the shuttle exploded and fell to earth in pieces over Texas.

"I was at home when I saw the news on TV, and, as with Challenger, I just waited and waited, hoping it was just a glitch. It was obvious on the faces of the ground controllers that it had gone."

The father-of-two who helped to build the giant rocket which powered Columbia into orbit a month ago, felt he had a special link to the dead astronauts.

He said: "The feelings here are sad, although not as bad as 9/11. Space flight will always be dangerous, and there could be more disasters. But, give me the chance and I will be on the very next flight, as I'm sure would all the astronauts."

The tragedy, two weeks ago, brought back bitter memories of the Challenger disaster in the eighties.

"Ever since Challenger I've never been happy with a flight, and I'm always relieved when it's over. To say I was expecting it would be untrue, but everything is so close to the limit that it's always going to be dangerous."

John, 59, who moved to America in the 1980s, also worked on that doomed shuttle in which seven crew, including a school teacher, lost their lives after it exploded soon after take off.

It all seems like light years away from where John first showed a flair for mathematics.

He attended the former Fox Lane Infants' School and Balshaws Grammer School, Leyland and went on to serve an apprenticeship with a Salwick firm. He then attended Harris Technical College -- now the University of Central Lancashire -- and learnt his trade working for the former B&R Taylors, Sandy Lane, Leyland and at BAE Systems, Strand Road, Preston.

But he left Lancashire behind in 1981, and moved to the USA with wife Eve, also from Leyland, and their young children Geoff and Nick, to work for international engineering firm Lockheed Martin.

Twenty years on, the couple have three grandchildren and live on Moonraker Drive. John works at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, in New Orleans in the middle of the Louisiana swamps.

Lockheed Martin are contracted by NASA to work on the shuttle programme, and John is a group engineer working on the external tank -- the huge brown rocket that gives the shuttle a piggy-back ride into space.

He said: "In 1980 we decided to find a new life. We all like Leyland but I have got to go where the work is.

"I was offered a job working on the space shuttle, and we decided to come here for a couple of years. We've been here ever since."

John is on call 24-hours a day, seven days a week, in case of any problems.

But now after the recent disaster he fears for his colleagues' jobs if the space programme is set back.

He said: "A lot of good people could lose their jobs as well if there is a big delay. That happened when Challenger blew up.

"I'm a machine designer by trade, and building the space shuttle external tank is a big challenge."

John said watching the shuttle take off was one of the most amazing sights: "Eve and I attended a launch with my mum, it was incredible."