BOULDER,
Colorado -- Hurricane Katrina is howling its way through Louisiana and has
caused damage at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in
New Orleans, the site where space shuttle external tanks are assembled.
"There is
water leakage and potential water damage in the buildings, but there's no way
to tell how much at this point," Evan McCollum, a Lockheed Martin Space Systems
spokesman in Denver told SPACE.com.
Click here to see images of Hurricane Katrina's landfall at New Orleans, Louisiana.
|
|
Lockheed
Martin Space Systems, Michoud Operations operates the
sprawling Michoud Assembly Facility for NASA. When
fully staffed with some 2,000 employees, the organization is one of the largest
employers in New Orleans.
The
facility features one of the world's biggest manufacturing plants (43 acres under
one roof) and a port with deep-water access for the transportation of the large
external tanks by barge across the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and up to
Kennedy Space Center.
McCollum
said that a small emergency team - security, facilities, communications people
and others - are hunkered down in a building at Michoud,
riding out the hurricane.
Roof
damage
"This
morning the winds were about 100 miles per hour at the facility," McCollum
said. There were some security cameras that have been blown away but some that
had survived. From what they could see from the cameras that had survived, it
looked like there was some roof damage to three or four buildings."
The Michoud team, McCollum added, is hoping to go out later
this afternoon when the winds die down to get a visual inspection to see how
things look.
Power from
the city was lost, with the facility now on backup generators. Pumps were
working and were appearing to do a good job of handling the deluge of water,
McCollum said.
Precautious
taken
"There are
several external tanks in various stages of production. Precautious were taken
to guard the tanks from the storm," McCollum said. "They are hoping for a late
afternoon assessment if winds die down to below 50 miles per hour they will go
out and do the visual inspection, to check on the tanks and check on the
facilities."
McCollum
said that, depending on what the emergency team finds later today, the Michoud facility could reopen Thursday, or that may be
extended.
"We just
don't know yet," he said.
The
832-acre NASA Michoud Assembly Facility is located in
New Orleans, Louisiana some 24 miles (38 kilometers) from New Orleans
International Airport and 15 miles (24 kilometers) from the French Quarter.
The
external tank is 154 feet (46 meters) long, 28 feet (eight meters) in diameter
and is the largest single component of the space shuttle system.
The Space Shuttle
Propulsion Office at NASA's Marshall Center manages the external tank work.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in New Orleans is the primary contractor.
advertisement
