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Bracing for Impact
By Kenneth Silber
Staff Writer
posted: 12:43 pm ET
14 September 1999
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floyd_team
The "hurricane ride-out team" at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is reducing its numbers but will remain on site as Hurricane Floyd sweeps in.
However, it is unclear whether the buildings where they'll take shelter -- and where billions of dollars worth of spacecraft are housed -- are capable of withstanding the hurricane's winds.
"We've decided to ride it out," said George Diller, a NASA spokesman and team member who was reached at KSC early this afternoon. However, he said, "we're paring back the crew from 120 to 80." The team has been staying in a building called the Hurricane Control Center. However, concerned about possible flooding, they will move late this afternoon into three other areas on the KSC grounds: the Space Station Processing Facility (SSPF), which houses most of the International Space Station; the astronauts' living quarters; and the launch control center. These moves will occur "probably after 4 p.m., " said Diller. The hurricane is expected to hit Cape Canaveral with winds of 114 mph when it arrives at the Florida coast in the early hours of Wednesday. The SSPF is believed able to withstand winds of only up to 110 mph. The hangars that currently house three space shuttles, known as Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPFs), are believed able to withstand winds of only 105 mph. Asked why the ride-out team is taking shelter in facilities such as the SSPF, which may not be able to handle the expected winds, Diller replied succinctly: "We don't have anyplace else to go."
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