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Hurricane Ike Closes Johnson Space Center Today
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Hurricane Ike from the Space Station/NASA
The latest in what has to be a string of weather worry beads for NASA schedulers impacts Johnson Space Center (JSC) today. The Houston-based facility, which houses Mission Control and astronaut training, will close at noon today as Hurricane Ike roars in..
Forecasters say that Ike could savage the Texas coast between Corpus Christi and Houston. The hurricane, currently a Category 2 storm, has already killed 81 people in the Caribbean, and forecasters say that the warm waters of the Gulf could power it to even stronger levels.
Some evacuations in the storm-forecast area have already begun. Experts say that Houston could be impacted by both flooding and strong winds even if Ike's center hits further to the west. Ike is now expected to make landfall early Saturday.
Taking no chances, JSC officials have called in their storm rideout crews and are implementing their emergency preparedness plans. Officials are hopeful that the center could return to full work status as early as Monday.
Four NASA centers have now had to shut down for this year's spate of tropical storms. Hurricane Gustav shut down Stennis Research Center and the Michoud Assembly Facility, both in Louisiana
Hurricane Fay caused a delay in the rollout of Space Shuttle Atlantis to the launch pad, the closing of Kennedy Space Center, and a delay in shipment of some tools for STS-125. The combinations of storm delays finally led NASA to announce a two-day delay in both upcoming space shuttle missions.
Atlantis and the seven crew members of the STS-125 Hubble servicing mission will launch at approximately 12:33 a.m. EDT. Friday, Oct. 10. Next up: a supply and astronaut swap-out run to the International Space Station (ISS) by Endeavour and its seven-member crew. The STS-126 mission will lift off about 8:43 p.m. Nov. 12 and land at about 2:45 p.m., Nov. 27. Because the launch window for the ISS mission is very tight, NASA schedulers now have to closely monitor every single day lost during flight preparations.
JSC has established emergency information broadcast and contact information for employees. Officials published the following information from the Emergency Operations Center.
"Employees are encouraged to monitor local media broadcasts such as AM740-AM Radio, the designated Emergency Alert System for this area, for current storm information. For JSC-specific information, the JSC Emergency Information Lines, 281-483-3351 and, toll-free, 1-877-283-1947, will be updated as circumstances warrant."
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