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Kennedy Space Center damage estimate updated BY WILLIAM HARWOOD STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION Posted: September 7, 2004 The Kennedy Space Center, reeling from widespread wind and water damage caused by Hurricane Frances, will remain closed to normal work until Monday at the earliest while engineers complete a detailed damage assessment.
"That concerns us a lot," he said. "The facilities engineering people today don't think that between now and the possible arrival of (Hurricane) Ivan as early as next Saturday there is anything they can do to plug those holes. "So we will probably be, for the next period of time, including Ivan if she comes ashore, sitting there with an open window to the world in the VAB." The sides of the building were not the only sites of damage. A 30-member team inspecting the roof of the cavernous structure had to beat a hasty retreat when they discovered "it was very insecure," Kennedy said. "It was soggy, it was weak and they did not want to run the risk of falling through the roof of the VAB," he told reporters. Netting is being strung up inside the building just below the roof to catch any debris that might fall until repairs can be made.
"Our shuttle TPS facility was hit hard," Kennedy said. "It makes the thermal protection system tiles and blankets and that facility has what I would estimate at about 25 percent of its roof ripped off. This is very critical to any kind of a schedule we might hope to achieve on shuttle. The tile production, the TPS production was on the critical path." NASA managers are looking into whether the work can be temporarily moved to Palmdale, Calif., where the shuttle fleet was built, or possibly to Houston until the building can be rebuilt. Loss of the tile facility alone could hamper NASA plans for launching the shuttle Discovery next March on the first post-Columbia shuttle mission. Many observers believed that date was going to be difficult to meet even before Frances struck, because of technical issues associated with implementing safety upgrades. Little reserve time was left in the processing schedule and it's not yet clear how repairs to the VAB and the tile facility might affect that work. Kennedy declined to speculate. "I'm not going to estimate when we might return to flight," he said. "It's very much to be determined, the impact that the facility damage will have on our ability to return to flight. We'll be working with the shuttle program people over the coming weeks to help assess that." While damage to the VAB and the tile facility were the focus of attention today, other facilities suffered as well. A three-story computer facility near the VAB and orbiter processing facilities lost a large portion of its roof, but computer hardware on the third floor had been covered last week and appears to have survived intact.
"The truth of the matter is many, many buildings have siding and roofing damage, water leaking situations and there's going to be an awful lot of work to repair the damage that's been done," Kennedy said. Even so, he was relieved the damage wasn't more extensive. Last week, Kennedy was worried that Frances, then a category 3 hurricane, could make a direct hit on the space center. "We are very fortunate to have had the limited damage that we've experienced from hurricane Frances," he said today. "There was a time a week ago when some of us worried about the future of human spaceflight, at least, with the potential of the loss of orbiter vehicles, with the loss of international space station hardware. "I'm proud to tell you that although we've had some minor issues with hardware, the hardware being processed for the shuttle and the station is secure and in good shape."
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The Kennedy Space Center director and 45th Space Wing commander from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station hold a news conference Tuesday to describe damage from Hurricane Frances. (46min 15sec file)
This movie takes you on a tour of hurricane damage to Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, shuttle tile manufacturing facility and press site. (3min 11sec file)
Director of the Kennedy Space Center, Jim Kennedy, briefs reporters on the initial hurricane damage inspections at the spaceport on Monday, Sept. 6. (24min 00sec file)
Workers close the payload bay doors, retract the landing gear and secure NASA's space shuttles in hangars at Kennedy Space Center to ride out Hurricane Frances. (3min 48sec file)
Modules and equipment awaiting launch to the International Space Station are covered with bags inside the processing facility at Kennedy Space Center as added protection from Hurricane Frances. (51sec file)
An external camera aboard the International Space Station captured this dramatic view of Hurricane Frances churning in the Atlantic Ocean. (4min 46sec file)
Lockheed Martin's last Atlas 2AS rocket blasts off from Cape Canaveral carrying a classified National Reconnaissance Office spacecraft. (3min 59sec file)
The Atlas launch team in the Complex 36 Blockhouse celebrate the history of pad 36A in a post-launch toast. The Atlas 2AS rocket flight was the last to launch from the pad, which entered service in 1962. (2min 09sec file)
The classified NRO payload is deployed from the Centaur upper stage to successfully complete the launch. (1min 56sec file)
