Workers credited for quick reopening of NASA's Michoud facility

New Orleans CityBusiness, Dec 26, 2005 by Richard Slawsky

If it hadn't been for the 37 workers who kept the generators and pumps running at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility during Hurricane Katrina, the space shuttle might have been grounded permanently, according to NASA officials.NASA Administrator Michael Griffin credited heroic efforts by workers at Michoud as well as at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi with preventing serious storm damage at either facility, which reopened soon after the storm.The space shuttle's external fuel tanks are manufactured at the Michoud facility.

Shuttle main engines are tested at Stennis.My hat's off to the members of our NASA and contractor teams who rode out the storm, took care of the facilities, took care of each other and helped thousands of people who were in dire need after the storm, said Stennis Center Director Bill Parsons. They are the reason we can get back to doing our NASA mission.For more than a week following Katrina, Stennis served as an emergency shelter for more than 3,500 people, including residents, Stennis employees and their families.About 4,600 people work at Stennis, including more than 1,200 Louisiana residents. According to a Mississippi State University Study, Stennis exerted an economic impact of $518 million within a 50-mile radius of the facility in 2004.More than 2,100 people - mostly technicians - work at Michoud. In 2004, Michoud's payroll topped $137 million with local subcontracts totaling $22.9 million.According to Griffin, 20 percent of Stennis employees and 40 percent of Michoud employees lost their homes in Katrina.Return to FlightEarlier this year, NASA officials selected Stennis as the site for its new NASA Shared Services Center following a competition between six NASA sites. The NSSC will consolidate administrative support functions from 10 NASA centers around the country.The center, which will employ about 500 workers, originally was to open in October. However, delays caused by Katrina pushed the date back to March.Employees at oth facilities anxiously awaited the Space Shuttle Discovery's Return to Flight launch this summer, NASA's first shuttle launch since the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart on re-entry in February 2003. Insulating foam from the external fuel tank, which broke off during launch and damaged the shuttle's wing, was blamed for the disaster.A similar chunk of foam broke off during Discovery's July 26 launch. Although the shuttle returned to Earth without incident, subsequent shuttle launches have been postponed until the foam problem is solved.Stennis Space Center and the Michoud assembly plant will continue to play a part in NASA's vision, Griffin said in a July visit to Stennis. If the next generation of heavy-lift space vehicles capable of launching 100 tons or more of cargo into orbit is based on technology used in the space shuttle, restarting Michoud after a shutdown would be too expensive and Stennis is the only NASA facility where such rocket engines can be tested, he said.We need this center to test propulsion systems for the new vehicle we will be putting together to return to the moon, Griffin said.-