Damage at Stennis Space Center There will be a delay in future Shuttle flights until at least the fall of 2006, due to damaged NASA facilities that house and manufacture parts for the Shuttle program. Hurricane Katrina has damaged several NASA facilities, including not only the Kennedy Space Center, but more importantly the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans itself and the Stennis Space Center on the gulf coast of Mississippi, both major worksites of NASA subcontractors that help with the servicing of parts for the shuttle. There have been many setbacks for the Shuttle program as well. Hurricane Katrina simply added to these problems. Hurricane Ophelia forced the facilities at the Kennedy Space Center to go into a weather protection status, returning the shuttle Atlantis back to its hanger from the Vehicle Assembly building. The external fuel tank that was earlier scheduled to return to New Orleans prior to Katrina for some minor repairs had to be secured from the storm. MSNBC reported that Wayne Hale, NASA’s deputy shuttle program manager, suggests that it may be over a year before they can get back to flying another shuttle mission. Damage at Michoud Assembly Facility Among other problems facing NASA, employees at these damaged facilities have faced very personal losses. Some have lost family members, their homes, and more. In some cases, NASA has been unable to locate employees, or employees of contractors. For those that have been located, many of them from New Orleans are being transferred either to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, or to the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama. External sites
 There will be a delay in future Shuttle flights until at least the fall of 2006, due to damaged NASA facilities that house and manufacture parts for the Shuttle program. Hurricane Katrina has damaged several NASA facilities, including not only the Kennedy Space Center, but more importantly the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans itself and the Stennis Space Center on the gulf coast of Mississippi, both major worksites of NASA subcontractors that help with the servicing of parts for the shuttle. There have been many setbacks for the Shuttle program as well. Hurricane Katrina simply added to these problems. Hurricane Ophelia forced the facilities at the Kennedy Space Center to go into a weather protection status, returning the shuttle Atlantis back to its hanger from the Vehicle Assembly building. The external fuel tank that was earlier scheduled to return to New Orleans prior to Katrina for some minor repairs had to be secured from the storm. MSNBC reported that Wayne Hale, NASA’s deputy shuttle program manager, suggests that it may be over a year before they can get back to flying another shuttle mission. Among other problems facing NASA, employees at these damaged facilities have faced very personal losses. Some have lost family members, their homes, and more. In some cases, NASA has been unable to locate employees, or employees of contractors. For those that have been located, many of them from New Orleans are being transferred either to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, or to the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama. External links
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Damage at Stennis Space Center
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Damage at Michoud Assembly Facility
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