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How NASA Defended Its Assembly Facility From Hurricane Katrina

Posted by Soulskill on from the please-say-lasers dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Tomorrow marks the 10-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's arrival in New Orleans. Though that time was filled with tragedy, there were survival stories, and a new article gives an insider's account of how NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility weathered the storm. Michoud was their key fuel tank production location, and if it had been lost, the space program would have gone off the rails. A 17-foot levee and a building with four water pumps capable of moving 62,000 gallons per minute stood between the storm and catastrophe for NASA's launch capabilities. "Water was merely the primary concern of the first 24 hours; Hurricane Katrina left its mark on the facilities even if Michoud was the rare speck of land to escape flooding. Roofs were lost to strong winds, one building even blew out entirely. External Tank 122 took some damage." Members of the "ride out" team spent much of the next month at Michoud, working long days to inspect and repair issues caused by the water. They maintained the facility well enough that it became a base for members of the military doing search and rescue operations. Amazingly, they did it all without any injuries to the team, and NASA didn't miss a single tank shipment.

28 of 59 comments (clear)

  1. what's the opposite of Progress? by Thud457 · · Score: 1

    TL;DR version:
    Survived Katrina, didn't survive Congress

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    1. Re:what's the opposite of Progress? by bev_tech_rob · · Score: 4, Informative

      TL;DR version: Survived Katrina, didn't survive Congress

      You apparently didn't read the complete article. They are now busy building components for the Space Launch System. They are still very much alive. Good for them!

      --
      You're messin' with my Zen Thing, man.....
    2. Re:what's the opposite of Progress? by MobSwatter · · Score: 1

      Yep, still building rockets to push a craft through the atmosphere. Alive yes, thinking straight is debatable. They clearly didn't learn too much studying the SR-71 from '97 before mothballing it in '99 at NASA. I'd wager they would have gotten mach 4 at around 150,000' out of the SR-71 if something didn't happen in 1964 on the north shore of Tahoe and the development of JP7 had been fine tuned. They probably didn't look too hard at the AQM-60 Kingfisher developed under OXCART under CIA SR in the same program either. Looks like they really didn't learn anything in '03, or in prior failures either, or maybe those that are calling the shots like burning money on hardware and in training people.

    3. Re:what's the opposite of Progress? by dotancohen · · Score: 1

      You apparently didn't read the complete article. They are now busy building components for the Space Launch System. They are still very much alive.

      They might have food on the engineers' families tables, but I don't see anything coming out of there flying anytime soon.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  2. In case that's not impressive enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    ". . . muttering something about uptime."

    "Shit, we're dealing with a sysadmin."

  3. Because its not just a NASA facility by nimbius · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The facility was originally constructed in 1940 at the village of Michoud, Louisiana on behalf of the United States government for the war production during World War II. The site was a production site for the Korean war as well as the bulk of the US space race. the US Army Corps of Engineers knew exactly what they were about when evaluating it from a strategic perspective. This thing was a big chunk of the US space race (a wholly owned subsidiary of the cold war.) during Katrina, so it wasnt your average office park. most importantly, facility ride-out crews pumped more than one billion gallons of water out of the facility because that was what it was designed to withstand. They actually won an Exceptional Bravery medal from NASA for this.

    New Orleans on the other hand was crumpled like a beer can under the might of Katrina, and smelted in the incompetent furnace that was the Bush administration. the new levy cost us 14 billion dollars. or coincidentally, almost 1 year of NASA budget.

    --
    Good people go to bed earlier.
    1. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by JackieBrown · · Score: 3, Insightful

      New Orleans on the other hand was crumpled like a beer can under the might of Katrina, and smelted in the incompetent furnace that was the Bush administration.

      You mean because of the governor and mayor, right? Bush had to wait until the state authorize the use of the military to jump in. Or do you want the president to have the power to jump in and take control of a city?

      His failure - if you have to find one - is that he didn't publicly chastise the governor until the governor was shamed into doing that. Unfortunately, that was not his style - otherwise he would have blamed 9/11 on the Clinton administration since that is when most of the preparation and planning took place.

    2. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by Coren22 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Was it ever determined to be incompetence of the Bush administration, or are you just spouting off?

      At the time, the stories coming out were that there was a delay in the request for assistance, which is required before the federal government can come help. If they didn't request assistance and the feds showed up, people would be complaining about a federal invasion. Also, when whole swaths of land are ravaged, getting into the area to help is rather difficult, and can take time in the case of a hurricane as they hit an enormous amount of area, not just a little city.

      But it is always more convenient to blame your political opponent, even if it is lazy.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    3. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by felrom · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Pay no attention to the 130 years of Democrat rule of the city leading up to Katrina. All the fault for the city's unpreparedness lies with a single Republican who had no authority to intervene.

      If I rolled my eyes sufficiently for the amount of derp packed into your comment, I'd probably get dizzy and fall over.

    4. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by Speck'sBacon · · Score: 1

      Bush stated he refused to provide help because he doesn't like black people.

      I wish I weren't out of mod points... Put up or shut up. Show me where Dubya said anything of the sort. He didn't. Troll.

    5. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by gstoddart · · Score: 3, Informative

      Was it ever determined to be incompetence of the Bush administration, or are you just spouting off?

      "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job"

      Yes, as a matter of fact. Bush was too incompetent to know his flunky was too incompetent:

      the Democratic lawmaker cited several e-mails that he said show Brown's failures. In one, as employees looked for direction and support on the ravaged Gulf Coast, Brown offered to "tweak" the federal response.

      Two days after Katrina hit, Marty Bahamonde, one of the only FEMA employees in New Orleans, wrote to Brown that "the situation is past critical" and listed problems including many people near death and food and water running out at the Superdome.

      Brown's entire response was: "Thanks for the update. Anything specific I need to do or tweak?" (Copies of e-mails posted by critic -- PDF)

      On September 12 Brown resigned, 10 days after President Bush told him, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."

      And, in case you don't scroll far enough in that article:

      Brown took over FEMA in 2003 with little experience in emergency management. He joined the agency in 2001 as legal counsel to his friend, then-FEMA director Joe Allbaugh, who was Bush's 2000 campaign manager. When Allbaugh left FEMA in 2003 Brown assumed the top job.

      Before joining the Bush administration, Brown spent a decade as the stewards and judges commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association.

      So, a man without proper experience failed to act and then offered to "tweak" the response, as if it was a minor thing.

      So how about you stop thinking of this as a partisan issue. It really does come down to an unqualified crony of Bush failing to act, and Bush acting like it was all going according to plan.

      But it is always more convenient to blame your political opponent, even if it is lazy.

      Yes, yes it is. Only in this case it's you doing that.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    6. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by nimbius · · Score: 3, Informative

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... Unfortunately most of the criticism, and failure, rests squarely within the Bush administration, all flair, bravado, and style aside.

      --
      Good people go to bed earlier.
    7. Re: Because its not just a NASA facility by Coren22 · · Score: 1

      Links? I have heard that the national guard (a state organization) was turning people back after the storm had started, but nothing about the army.

      --
      APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
    8. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Today, it's not clear whether West himself would repeat what he said 10 years ago. After all, he is more careful now and even apologized to Bush in a 2010 interview on NBC's "Today" show, saying that he "didn't have the grounds to call him a racist."

      It's sad how many people don't actually know anything about what they quote.

    9. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You are perfectly welcome to cite your own reliable sources and update wikipedia to correct the factual errors and remove opinions.

      And even if you don't you can still cite sources to contradict the above statement.

      Or perhaps wikipedia is actually correct on the subject.

      Most likely you're just a loud mouth conservative, like most of the posters here, and have no actual facts.

    10. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

      At the time, the stories coming out were that there was a delay in the request for assistance, which is required before the federal government can come help.

      In an emergency, with lives at stake, you are supposed to do what is needed and worry about the "proper" paperwork and chain of command later. Insisting you can't save lives without XQA dash 5 filled out is the kind of crap that our soldiers in WWII used to call chickenshit.

      insistence on the letter rather than the spirit of ordinances. Chickenshit is so called — instead of horse — or bull — or elephant shit — because it is small-minded and ignoble and takes the trivial seriously. Chickenshit can be recognized instantly because it never has anything to do with winning the war

      This is pretty much an exact characterization of the response we got from the Federal government at the time, and the excuses that are still thrown up for their inaction today. Of course this is the exact flavor of shit you can expect when the POTUS in question hires a political donor to head an Emergency response agency instead of an experienced disaster response leader (as the POTUSes before and after him did).

      When disaster strikes, and the locals aren't equipped to deal with it on their own, we need leaders, not chickenshits. That's what we are supposed to have a federal government for.

    11. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      You mean because of the governor and mayor, right? Bush had to wait until the state authorize the use of the military to jump in.

      I think we're talking about FEMA, which you might remember was headed by a guy who's only qualification was that he was a judge for horse shows or something like that.

      Or do you want the president to have the power to jump in and take control of a city?

      Providing aide does not require taking over anything.

      Unfortunately, that was not his style - otherwise he would have blamed 9/11 on the Clinton administration since that is when most of the preparation and planning took place.

      You mean like when Clinton was directing cruise missile strikes against terrorists in Africa over the screaming objections of Republicans, or were you more referring to how Clinton warned Bush about threats to attack the United States and Bush did essentially nothing? Does this mean that the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 was Bush Sr's fault? I bet you don't blame the preparation and planning of the Clinton Administration for handing Bush a military ready and able to conduct two simultaneous wars. Somehow that was Bush's success, amirite?

      It's comical to watch an ideologue contort themselves to make everything the fault of everyone who doesn't accept their obviously correct ideology. When terrorists attack during a Republican Presidency it's the preceding Democrats fault, and when the failures of a Federal agency under a Republican Presidency cause massive flooding and loss of life it's the fault of the governor in the state victimized by federal incompetence.

    12. Re:Because its not just a NASA facility by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

      Still blaming Bush when we have Obama.

  4. *BUSH* administration?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Don't you mean "Nagin administration"? And "Blanco administration"?

    Or does the fact those two have a "D" after their names mean you can't blame the people actually in charge when Katrina hit? You know, the clowns who let literally acres of buses get flooded out because they were too stupid to use them to evacuate people?

    Because Florida got hit with three hurricanes right in a row in 2004 - Charley, Ivan, and Jean all hit between Aug 13 and Sep 26, 2004.

    And there was no problem with the response to that, now was there?

    Bush was in charge then too.

    What was the difference? Bush was in charge in Florida, too - Jeb Bush.

    Oh, and when the response to Hurricane Andrew in Florida was horrible? Guess the party of Florida Governor Lawton Chiles...

    1. Re:*BUSH* administration?!?! by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      Wow. I'm sorry but these posts are too common and too frequent for me to believe that this is not a democrat propaganda. Post often enough and people believe this shit - or at least start sub consciously believing the spirit of these posts.

      If this was a MS or Google shill, they would be called out in a New York minute. Hell, they at least are more subtle than this.

      It's a real shame what politics have come too.

    2. Re:*BUSH* administration?!?! by JackieBrown · · Score: 1

      And to add, if it's not a paid for democrat, then why are none of the democrats or progressives calling out these lies? Do they really add to any conversation?

      In this thread alone...

      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...
      http://slashdot.org/comments.p...

      And I haven't refreshed the page otherwise I'd probably see more.

    3. Re:*BUSH* administration?!?! by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

      Don't feed the troll. It's here for the reaction.

      --
      John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  5. There were issues with Post Katrina ET's by trout007 · · Score: 5, Informative

    We had issues with Post Katrina ET's because many of the technicians were displaced after Katrina and they lost institutional knowledge. The Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) was not installed within the tolerances and we had problems for the rest of the program with leaking hydrogen gas from this connection which caused quite a few scrubbed launches.

    http://llis.nasa.gov/lesson/60...

    --
    I love Jesus, except for his foreign policy.
  6. Can Only Be Stopped By... by thedonger · · Score: 1

    A hurricane with a gun can only be stopped by an assembly facility with a gun something something 'Merica!

    --
    Help fight poverty: Punch a poor person.
    1. Re:Can Only Be Stopped By... by HotNeedleOfInquiry · · Score: 1

      Or the closest NASA can come to rocket science these days...

      --
      "Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
  7. Why no mention of gulf coast?? by Cutting_Crew · · Score: 2

    Why have all the news stations and online articles only mention New Orleans when the entire gulf coast of Mississippi faced the storm head on and was obliterated into nothing in addition to storm surge? New Orleans simply suffered from water surge - at the fault of the city being at or below sea level. The eye of the storm hit the Mississippi Gulf Coast - not New Orleans. So while New Orleans got some storm surge and a little wind...the gulf coast got both and more than plenty of it. But no one seems to remember that part.

    1. Re:Why no mention of gulf coast?? by Straif · · Score: 1

      Probably because most other places had competent City and State governments in place who knew how to handle the crisis. NO went to hell because no one knew what to do and took forever to even officially request federal aid and even then tried to retain control over things they had no clue how to handle.

      People forget than FEMA is not a first response organization. They are suppose to come in to assist already established State and Local teams, take over centralized command if the locals are not capable and to help spread around federal funds where needed. They can do a lot of stuff but it all comes down to what the local governments allow them to do and what aid they can get at the local level.

      --
      Of course that's just my opinion...... you could be wrong!
  8. I guess it's too much to ask.. by HotNeedleOfInquiry · · Score: 1

    For a story about NASA putting something on the moon or Mars. Instead we have a fluff piece about water and a hurricane 10 years old.

    --
    "Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...