The shuttles, which the place is used to assemble in preparation for their launch at the Kennedy spaceport, survived the hurricane damage
Avi Blizovsky
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Last Monday, NASA managers feared the expected attack of Hurricane Ivan, after Hurricane Francis tore about a thousand aluminum panels measuring 1.20 by 3 meters from one of the walls of the huge structure. This is what the director of the Kennedy Space Center said, whose name happens to be Jim Kennedy.
Kennedy said that the team will protect the building, which is as tall as a 40-story building, from further damage. "I don't see what else we can do to make these repairs within a few days." According to Kennedy, the current damage was the worst in the history of the space center. It is not yet known if there was damage to the roof as well.
The center was designed to absorb winds at a speed of 112 km/h and gusts of up to 151 km/h. However, the gusts also reached speeds of 200 km/h.
The VAB was built in 1965 to assemble the formidable Saturn 5 rockets, and is now used to attach the large boosters to the shuttles. Kennedy said two outdoor tanks were inside the building during the storm, "and we believe they were protected from the storm." Kennedy says that a thorough inspection of the launch sites has not yet been conducted.
Kennedy said that it is too early to assess how the damage will affect the plan to return to flight for the first time since the Columbia disaster, in any case a team of 500 employees is at Fun Canaveral to finish the preparatory work, but he estimates that the storm damage will be another obstacle that must be overcome. The plan to return the shuttle to flight is now March or April 2005. The VAB was the tallest building in Florida until 1974.
Now we are waiting with canaveral fun for storm Ivan which has meanwhile made a name for itself in the Caribbean islands. This storm will make landfall off the west coast of Florida.
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