Huntsville Crew Providing Support To Damaged Facilities

They helped bring Discovery home safely two weeks ago, and now crews from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL are racing to provide humanitarian aid and logistical support to workers at two NASA facilities caught in the wake of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.

Marshall is providing relief to workers at the Stennis Space Center near Gulfport, MS, and the Michoud Assembly Facility outside of New Orleans. Stennis is a major engine and hardware test facility for NASA, while Michoud is where the space shuttle's external fuel tank is assembled. Approximately 3500 NASA employees worked at the two sites, as well as nearly 4600 employees from other federal agencies.

The first of several relief flights -- utilizing an Army helicopter loaned to Marshall by Redstone Arsenal -- left Marshall on August 30, carrying security personnel and engineers to help secure the Michoud facility, set up emergency communications equipment and aid in damage assessment. Michoud remains accessible only by air or boat, until flood waters recede.

The situation isn't much better at Stennis, although trucks carrying building supplies, construction tools, as well as personal items such as water, diapers and food have been able to get through to the approximately 1000 people at that facility. Communications with Marshall were also reestablished Friday through a 10-megabyte communications link, allowing limited voice and data messages.

Upon reopening its runway earlier this week, Stennis became the base of operations for the aforementioned Army helicopter, as well as a second NASA chopper, for running supplies to Michoud. Regular flights from Marshall to Stennis will continue to bring in goods and supplies, including portable air conditioning units, washers and dryers and other equipment, to be distributed at both facilities.

Next up in the relief effort will be delivering three large backup generators to both facilities, to be utilized until regular power is restored. Thirteen NASA employees will fly from Marshall to Mississippi on Sunday to relieve some Stennis workers, the first of many expected rotations in and out of the damaged centers.

NASA has asked workers at Marshall Center to provide shelter for families displaced from Stennis and Michoud in the next several days. Numerous Stennis and Michoud employees will be provided work accommodations at the Marshall Center and other field centers until their own offices are restored.

The space agency has also partnered with Huntsville City Schools to enroll children of impacted NASA employees in local schools, and also will partner with the City of Madison, AL and Madison County Schools to accommodate additional children of employees displaced from the two facilities.

FMI: www.nasa.gov