NASA Center in New Orleans Closed Through Sunday After Tornado Hit

Tornado damage at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans is clearly visible in this aerial view of the center. A tornado hit the NASA center on Feb. 7, 2017. (Image credit: Steven Seipel/NASA/MAF)

NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans will remain closed through at least Sunday (Feb. 12) as recovery efforts continue after a powerful tornado struck the center this week, agency officials said.

A tornado struck the Michoud Assembly Facility on Tuesday (Feb. 7), causing damage to the sprawling center where NASA once built massive stages of its Saturn V moon rocket and space shuttle fuel tanks. The core stage of NASA's new megarocket, the Space Launch System, will be manufactured at the assembly facility. You can see photos fo the tornado damage here.

Of the Michoud facility's 3,500 employees, five were injured when the tornado struck. NASA recovery crews have been working to restore the center to operational status so employees and tenants using the center's facilities can resume work.

"The teams on-site have made good progress in their continued damage assessments and restoration work. Visual damage assessment are ongoing," NASA officials wrote in a status update today (Feb. 9). "Power has been restored to key substations, the main NASA administration building, and the U.S. Coast Guard facilities with further progress is expected today."

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Tariq is the award-winning Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001. He covers human spaceflight, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. He's a recipient of the 2022 Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting and the 2025 Space Pioneer Award from the National Space Society. He is an Eagle Scout and Space Camp alum with journalism degrees from the USC and NYU. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.