Hurricane causes minimal damage at space center
10.17 a.m. ET (1421 GMT) September 15, 1999
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? NASA's space shuttles and hangars were safe today following Hurricane Floyd's march up Florida's east coast.
Damage at the Kennedy Space Center was minimal, NASA spokesman George Diller said this morning.
The hurricane stayed 103 miles offshore, bringing sustained wind of 63 mph, with gusts of 80 mph.
"When this thing goes onshore, wherever it is, we'll find out what we missed,' said Diller, one of about 100 workers who volunteered to stay behind to ride out the storm.
By midmorning, workers had yet to check the two shuttle launch pads. But a preliminary inspection of the buildings housing the four shuttles and all the equipment for the international space station uncovered no serious problems, Diller said.
A piece of sheet metal blew off the 525-feet-high Vehicle Assembly Building early this morning, and the phone lines were down a few hours Tuesday night. Sporadic power outages also occurred. But that was about it, Diller said.
"It's minimal, very minimal,' he said. "You can get this kind of damage in a severe thunderstorm. We're just really pleased.'
NASA planned to reopen the space center Thursday morning. The center's approximately 12,500 workers were evacuated Monday. |
