Posted on 09/11/2004 8:27:59 PM PDT by BenLurkin
PALMDALE - Florida's loss may turn out to be Palmdale's gain, if space shuttle facilities damaged by Hurricane Frances cause some operations to be transferred back to The Boeing Co.'s Palmdale plant. Among the billions of dollars of damage caused when Hurricane Frances slammed into Florida last week was NASA's Kennedy Space Center, home to the nation's space shuttle fleet and launch operations.
The Thermal Protection System facility, where space shuttle tile and blankets are manufactured, suffered significant damage. Work is under way to recover critical spaceflight material, such as tile molds, from exposed areas.
The damage could mean finding another site to manufacture the tiles used to protect the shuttle from the extreme heat of re-entry. Boeing's Palmdale facility, birthplace of the orbiters themselves, already manufactures some tiles for testing.
"They do have the capability at Palmdale that could be put into play to manufacture tiles for return-to-flight," said NASA spokesman James Hartsfield.
Because it appears the equipment in Florida, wrapped for protection against the storm inside the building, is still in working order, it may be moved to another undamaged site at Kennedy for use there.
"There's a lot being evaluated still," Hartsfield said. "It's just too early to know."
For now, NASA officials at Kennedy have their hands full with preparations for the next predicted onslaught, Hurricane Ivan spinning over the Caribbean.
In addition to the Thermal Protection System facility, the massive Vehicle Assembly Building was seriously damaged by the storm, tearing off some 820 panels from the sides. Two external fuel tanks inside, however, appear to be undamaged, according to NASA officials. The VAB is used to assemble the stack of solid rocket boosters, the external fuel tank and shuttle orbiter for launch.
The Palmdale site formerly housed tile manufacturing, but lost that task when shuttle maintenance and modification duties moved to Florida in late 2001.
Following the Columbia accident last year, however, the site began manufacturing the tiles once again for testing purposes, said Boeing spokesman Ed Memi.
The tiles, basically identical to those mounted on the shuttles themselves, are mounted on aluminum sheets and hit with foam, ice and other materials to simulate damage that could occur during launch.
The investigation into the Columbia accident determined that a piece of foam insulation from the external fuel tank hit the leading edge of the orbiter's wing during launch, damaging the protective tiles. This allowed the super-heated gases of re-entry to get inside the orbiter, ultimately causing it to break apart.
With the team at Kennedy concentrating on the vehicle tiles needed to return the shuttles to flight, NASA decided to send the new testing program to Palmdale, Memi said. It started up in November 2003.
About 22 people work with the tile project in Palmdale, he added. Any possible increase in employment would depend on what the facility was asked to accomplish.
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