Astroprof’s Page

JSC closed for at least one week

Published on Sep 14, 2008 at 5:40 pm. 1 Comment.
Filed under NASA.

The team that rode out the storm at the Johnson Space Center continues to assess the damage and is beginning to work on repairs to infrastructure at the space center. The space center will not resume operations right away. It appears that it will take at least a week for recovery operations to get things ready for anything like normal operations. Until then, control of the ISS will continue to be from backup control centers.

Damage to the area to the area near the space center is spotty, with some areas escaping severe damage with other areas showing major damage and some pockets of near devastation. Almost every structure in the Houston/Galveston area has at least some damage. Thankfully, most of that damage is light except for areas near the coast. Electricity is still out to most of the area, and water is not available in the areas that are most heavily hit.

As bad as the damage from Hurricane Ike was, it is nowhere near as bad as it could have been. And, despite the large number of people who did not evacuate, the loss of life is far lower than it might have been. However, the final death toll is not yet known, as rescuers are only just now reaching some of the worst hit areas.

-Astroprof