Wildfire Blazes Near NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida

Fire behavior during the second day of the Center fire as seen from a helicopter. The fire occurred just south of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center headquarters on Merritt Island in Audobon, Florida. This image was taken on April 2, 2013. (Image credit: Michael Good - USFWS)

Firefighters are working to protect NASA's gateway to space, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, from a 2,000-acre wildfire, according to Central Florida's News 13.

According to the CFNews 13 report, the fire began Monday (April 1) when lightning triggered the blaze at the Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge in Brevard County. The wildlife preserve is also home to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which served as the launching site for its space shuttles, Apollo moon missions and other manned spaceflights. [See more wildfire photos from NASA's Kennedy Space Center]

So far no damage from the fire has been reported at NASA's KSC facilities. See the latest wildfire news from CFNews 13

Additional NASA facilities that were protected during the second day of the Center fire were a radar site, a launch tracking camera and the laser range. The fire occurred just south of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center headquarters on Merritt Island in Audobon, Florida. This image was taken on April 2, 2013. (Image credit: Michael Good - USFWS)

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Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and 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. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award (opens in new tab) for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast (opens in new tab) with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network (opens in new tab). To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab).