NASA braces for near-direct hit from Ike

Hurricane Ike is following a projected path that would pass within two miles of NASA's Johnson Space Center and its Mission Control Center.

Click to enlarge the Google Earth image above. The projected path released at 11 a.m. by the National Hurricane Center is the thin white line on the left of the photo. The line extending from it at right angles goes to NASA's Johnson Space Center. Mission Control is located 1.7 miles from the track.

Wow.

Thanks to Bill Harwood of CBS News for the image.

NASA's Johnson Space Center is the home not only of Mission Control but also the NASA Astronaut Corps. The shuttle and International Space Station programs are managed at JSC, as is Project Constellation -- the office in charge of the agency's bid to return America to the moon by 2020.

The work force at the Texas field center includes about 3,000 NASA civil servants and about 12,000 contractors.