NASA Woes: Hurricane Katrina hits shuttle tank facility

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NASA has had really bad luck with their shuttle fuel tanks and things do not seem to be getting any better. Hurricane Katrina has damaged the Michoud Assemly plant, which may halt production of the already buggy fuel tanks and cause further delays of NASA’s space program.

Hurricane Katrina is howling its way through Louisiana and has caused damage at NASA?s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, the site where space shuttle external tanks are assemble ?There is water leakage and potential water damage in the buildings, but there?s no way to tell how much at this point,? Evan McCollum, a Lockheed Martin Space Systems spokesman in Denver, told Space.com. The facility features one of the world?s biggest manufacturing plants (43 acres, or 17.4 hectares, under one roof) and a port with deep-water access for the transportation of the large external tanks by barge across the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and up to Kennedy Space Center.

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