Power Restored, Buildings Patched

Just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck, workers at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans are planning to resume operations at the complex -- assuring workers that the facility will continue to assemble the space shuttle's external fuel tank.

According to a NASA release, temporary repairs have been made to Michoud's buildings damaged during storm, and power has been restored across the entire complex.

The Space Shuttle program had initially considered moving the fuel tank assembly process to the Kennedy Space Center, as the extent of damage to Michoud was being determined. Due to the speed of the facility's repair effort, however, officials have determined that by the time Kennedy's facilities were outfitted to build the large tanks, Michoud would already be fully operational.

The agency is now assessing the work force needed to start and maintain minimal operations at Michoud. The main priority will be to ensure temporary housing for NASA civil servants and contractors whose homes were destroyed by Katrina.

Preparations are also under way to ship two external tanks from Kennedy back to Michoud by barge, to resume tests to determine why foam insulation once again came off the external tank during the launch of the shuttle Discovery last July.

NASA is still working to contact 76 of more than 2,000 Michoud employees, and has a hotline set up for affected workers at either Michoud or the nearby Stennis Space Center in Gulfport, MS.

FMI: www.nasa.gov