Nasa assessing Katrina damage

2005-09-08 14:34

Washington - Nasa said on Wednesday it was assessing damage from Hurricane Katrina to its Michoud space shuttle external tank assembly facility near New Orleans, Louisiana, and at another facility in Mississippi as the agency's top official visited the sites.

Nasa said in a statement that the Michoud facility, in the eastern suburbs of New Orleans, "is still mostly isolated due to high water". The agency said it was too early to tell if the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina would delay the next launch of the space shuttle.

Following the recent Discovery shuttle mission, Nasa said last month that there would be no more shuttle missions into space until March 2006 at the earliest.

Pieces of insulating foam on Discovery's external tank broke off during lift-off raising fears of a repeat of the February 1, 2003 Columbia disaster, which was caused by foam damage to the shuttle's fragile protective tiles.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is still trying to locate all its employees who worked at the Michoud site before Hurricane Katrina lashed the region and neighbouring states on August 29.

"Personnel are working with the External Tank project office to inspect for potential damage to space flight hardware," Nasa said.

Nasa Administrator Michael Griffin visited the Michoud facility and the Stennis Space Centre in Mississippi to see the extent of the damage for himself.

US Marines are using the Michoud facility as a staging area for relief operations, according to Nasa which said the site's roof had been damaged by the storm.

Nasa spokesperson Kelly Humphries said the damage assessments had not been completed yet.

"I don't have any detailed information about it other than the fact that there has been some damage to the building down there," Humphries said of the Michoud facility.

"It was more wind damage than flood ... at this point we don't have a full assessment of the damages and the conditions of the hardware that were there," she said.

"It's too early to say if it will delay the next (shuttle) launch," she added.

- AFP