International Space Station residents took the impressive picture at left of Hurricane Earl when it was a bit stronger. The storm was packing winds of 115 mph. It has since been downgraded to a Category 1 storm with sustained winds of 85 mph as of 11 a.m., as it moved north of the Outer Banks, according to the National Hurricane Center.
A NASA TV commentator remarked on the stunning view from space, but said six station crew members "understand the destructive power of these storms and wish their best to the people being affected on the ground."Two years ago, Hurricane Ike closed Johnson Space Center for 11 days and damaged some astronauts' homes.
As hurricane season heats up, Kennedy Space Center is getting ready to move shuttle Discovery out to launch pad 39A later this month.
Everything is ready for the orbiter to roll from its hangar to the Vehicle Assembly Building on Wednesday morning. No work on any of the three shuttles is scheduled through the Labor Day weekend.
Once Discovery is connected to an external tank and solid rocket boosters, NASA plans to roll the shuttle out to the launch pad Sept. 21 before a targeted Nov. 1 launch -- one of two scheduled missions left.
KSC would activate its hurricane plans if forecasts predicted sustained winds of at least 58 mph. A shuttle could stay on the pad during a low-intensity Category 1 storm, but plans call for a rollback to the assembly building if peak winds are expected to reach 79 mph.
Because of restrictions on moving the pad's Rotating Service Structure, a rollback would have to take place before sustained winds topped 46 mph and gusts reached 69 mph.
What's your forecast -- will a hurricane interrupt shuttle operations in Florida this season, or be a non-factor?
If Congress approves funding for a third shuttle mission, there would be one more chance next summer for hurricanes to interfere with a shuttle mission.
1 comment:
The "Third Shuttle Mission" (possible launch next June if funding approved) to the International Space Station would certainly be the last shuttle mission, as there will be no capability to build additional External Tanks - and that's the last one. From that point on the U.S. will be dependent on other nations for our astronauts to get to space. Does anyone else wish that someone like John F. Kennedy were around to challenge us and inspire us to explore space?
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