CAPE
CANAVERAL - The recovery at NASA's hurricane-battered external tank factory in
New Orleans is going so well the agency says it will not need to move some of
the work to Kennedy Space Center as once thought.
The space
agency announced Friday that the Michoud Assembly Facility will be ready to
resume tank work before facilities at KSC could be outfitted for the job. Power
is back on and temporary repairs have been made to buildings.
Hurricane
Katrina did more than $1 billion in damage to the tank factory and Stennis
Space Center in Mississippi, where space shuttle main engines are tested before
shipment to KSC for flight.
The space
agency said Friday it is assessing the number and type of workers needed to get
minimal operations restarted at Michoud. NASA and contractor Lockheed Martin
have now been able to account for all but 76 of the factory's 2,000 employees.
Tentative
plans call for shipment of two tanks from KSC in October. Once back at the
factory, the tanks will aid in NASA's investigation of why fuel tank foam
insulation came free during Discovery's flight in July -- repeating the problem
that caused the Columbia accident in 2003.
The agency
expects to have to make further safety modifications to the foam on the tanks,
and that work will be done at the New Orleans factory.
The
earliest possible date for NASA's next shuttle mission is March, but it could
be delayed into the summer or fall of next year.
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