NASA Does Fairly Well -- Some GA Fields... Not So Much

While managers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, were reopening the center for normal operations Friday morning for workers' first shift, Tropical Storm Fay continued to pound away at Northern and western Florida throughout th weekend. The ever-so-slow-moving Tropical Storm Fay kept Kennedy closed since Tuesday. The center was set to open Thursday morning for limited operations, but Fay stalled off the coast from Kennedy overnight and continued to bring heavy rain and tropical storm force wind to the area through mid-day.

Based on initial assessments, there is no damage to space flight hardware, such as the space shuttles and Hubble Space Telescope equipment. Some facilities did sustain minor damage. Most reports are of water intrusion that will require mopping up. A group of emergency personnel, known as a "ride-out crew," has been on-site since Tuesday and remained on-duty through Friday morning to provide real-time assessments.

The rest of Florida aviation and aerospace did not fare as well. ANN has received reports of flood and wind damage to a number of Florida aviation facilities, including damage to nearby aircraft, control towers and hangars. Friday, top gusts between 1500 and 1600 revealed as much as 45 mph at Mayport Naval Station, 42 mph at Craig Municipal Airport and 39 mph at St. Augustine airport.

Damage (shown here) at Jacksonville's Craig Field was reported to a number of aircraft as well as the control tower. (ANN thanks Joel Weaner for the photos).

FMI: www.nasa.gov/kennedy, www.noaa.gov