NASA tallies hurricane damage at Florida launch site

Hurricane Frances spared America's space shuttle fleet, but took a costly toll on facilities needed to prepare the winged craft for launch.

The Labor Day weekend storm ripped metal siding from the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center and peeled back the roof of the factory where the shuttle's heat-resistant tile skin is made.

NASA officials had only begun adding up the costs Monday, but KSC Director James Kennedy told reporters that he fears damage to crucial infrastructure could hinder the agency's efforts to return shuttles to flight by March.

Since the February 2003 Columbia disaster, NASA's three remaining shuttles have been parked in hangars at the coastal spaceport. Those shelters apparently escaped harm.

During a 48-hour onslaught, Frances wreaked more havoc than any other storm in the space center's 42-year history. Disputing reports of a peak wind at 124 mph, Kennedy said the strongest gust was clocked at 94 mph.

A 500-member disaster assessment team was called to service Monday, but conditions in central Florida prevented half the crew from reporting to work. Kennedy expressed relief that preliminary damage estimates were not worse, given the hurricane's wide girth and slow movement over the state. "The initial feeling was, we had dodged a big bullet," he said. Kennedy spoke in a teleconference from Crystal City, Va., where he and his family sought refuge from Frances.

The 525-foot-tall Vehicle Assembly Building, an Apollo-era landmark, lost about 1,000 4-by-10-foot siding panels. It did not appear there would be time to patch several gaping holes by the end of the week, when forecasts say another hurricane with 115-mph sustained winds may be threatening Florida. "I am concerned about Ivan and 40,000 square feet of open window," Kennedy said.

During the shuttle hiatus, the building is being used for heavy equipment storage and contains very little flight hardware that cannot be protected if Hurricane Ivan strikes. Of greater concern is the shuttle tile plant. "Tile manufacturing is, to some extent, on the critical path" to the first post-Columbia mission, Kennedy said. The work once was done in Palmdale, Calif., and NASA is considering moving it back there while the Florida facility is fixed.

Frances was the second storm in three weeks to affect the space center. Hurricane Charley skirted the spaceport's northern boundary in August, causing $700,000 in damage. Kennedy said the damage from Frances will be significantly more, but crews will not finish totaling it up for two to three weeks.