Cape Canaveral survives Floyd

September 15, 1999
Web posted at: 4:18 p.m. EDT (2018 GMT)

(CNN) -- The nation's shuttle fleet and billions of dollars of rocketry and space equipment survived the glancing blow of Hurricane Floyd, which ripped at buildings at the Kennedy Space Center but otherwise left the NASA facility relatively unscathed.

The Atlantic coast of central and northern Florida experienced hurricane-force wind gusts, and heavy rain fell from West Palm Beach to Cape Canaveral, the site of KSC, before Floyd headed north Wednesday for the Carolinas.

The four space shuttles at the Kennedy Space Center weathered the night in good shape, said NASA spokesman George Diller.

NASA Administrator Dan Goldin said fierce winds blew siding off the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, the launch site for all of NASA's human space flight missions. But overall, the center was spared.

"We look like we dodged the bullet," said NASA Administrator Dan Goldin. "Early indications indicate our preparations paid off."

Workers earlier in the week had boarded windows, removed and tied down antennae and sandbagged doors. There was some minor damage to the center's two launch pads, which are used for shuttle launches, Diller said.

The center was closed Tuesday and Wednesday, but a skeleton crew of 125 stayed overnight Tuesday at KSC to resolve emergencies. The center is expected to re-open Thursday.

"They also reported that they were able to keep all systems up last night which was our biggest concern," Goldin said.

Expensive payloads at the center, including massive antennae for an upcoming mapping mission and tools needed for the next shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, were at risk.

The shuttles, valued at $2 billion each, were housed in hangars and structures built to withstand winds of 105 to 125 mph. Some water flowed under hangar doors, but it failed to damage the orbiters used for human missions and associated equipment, Diller said.

There also was no damage to four rockets worth $628 million left standing on the launch pad at the neighboring Cape Canaveral Air Station because there was no time to remove them before ground crews were ordered to evacuate.

'Warning bell' for NASA

The Kennedy Space Center is only nine feet above sea level, so workers had covered launch pads, elevated equipment and even prepared to tow rocket boosters to inland Florida to avoid damage from possible storm surges that never came.

Goldin said the Kennedy Space Center buildings were designed for typical weather threats, not extreme hurricanes like Floyd.

Floyd rang a "warning bell" for NASA to take a hard look at how it protects its facilities, he said.

"We'll have to have long discussions with the leadership of this country to see what the nation can afford," he said, "and how much risk we're willing to take."