A day after the space shuttle Columbia burned up in a fireball over eastern Texas, killing all seven on board, NASA say attempts were made to sell debris over the internet.

Internet auction site eBay. has acted to prevent people trying to auction purported debris from the space shuttle Columbia which was destroyed in an accident Saturday. It posted a notice in its announcements section both expressing sympathies to the affected families and advising users that "sale or listing of such debris is strictly prohibited." They went on to say, "The handling of any debris from the Space Shuttle Columbia is potentially dangerous and against Federal law," it said. "Any listing of shuttle debris on eBay, now or in the future, will be immediately removed from the site. In addition, eBay will cooperate fully with law enforcement agencies requesting information about users attempting to list illegal items."

NASA officials had warned the public not to touch any debris because of the possibility of toxic contamination.

"Debris are government property. No one should collect them, much less try to sell them," spokesman for NASA's Kennedy Space Centre Bruce Buckingham said.

eBay Spokesman Kevin Pursglove told internenews.com that "only a handful -- maybe 10 or 15 items" - related to the disaster were posted. "It hasn't been very many," he said, and they were quickly taken down.

Pursglove said eBay users are aware of the fact that the company removes inappropriate items and that the Columbia disaster is the center of a federal investigation.

eBay uses both an automated monitoring system to check postings, and also has its customer support teams pore over the site with key word searches, Pursglove said.

eBay started a discussion board related to the tragedy and it was soon full of messages expressing condolences for the astronaut's families and shock at some of the sales being posted on the Web site.


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