Relatively Minor Damage Reported To Houston, Mission Control

Spared most of Hurricane Rita's wallop, employees at Houston's Johnson Space Center are breathing sighs of relief over minor damage sustained to the complex and are planning to reopen the facility Tuesday, according to a report in the Houston Chronicle.

The center was closed last Wednesday, and close to 15,000 workers were placed on administrative leave in order to prepare for the storm that at the time appeared to have Houston -- and the 1600-acre JSC complex -- directly in its crosshairs.

While some simply shored up their homes and hoped for the best, many of those employees opted to get out of Dodge completely, joining the mass exodus of as many as 2.5 million people who took to the roads towards Dallas and San Antonio, or who caught the last flights out of Houston heading anywhere, in efforts to flee the storm.

Rita instead veered east, sparing Houston much of its wrath but causing damage and flooding to the cities of Lake Charles, LA, and Beaumont and Port Arthur, TX.

With the reopening of JSC, it is expected that Mission Control Center will immediately resume control operations over the International Space Center. Control had been transferred to the Russian Mission Control facility in Korolev, outside of Moscow.

NASA is asking all JSC employees to call in on a special toll-free number -- available on its website -- to confirm their whereabouts and inform the center when they expect to be back in Houston, if they evacuated. Employees may also email the information to NASA, as well.

FMI: NASA's Hurricane Rita Page