Hurricane Gustav: A Brooding Monster Shuts Down Two NASA Facilities...

Hurricane Gustav/NASA's Aqua satellite

NASA satellites continue to monitor both Hurrican Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna as two NASA centers shut down in advance of Gustav, now a Category 4 hurricane.

Stennis Space Center, which has a rich history of testing rocket engines, is closed, along with its visitor's center, StenniSphere. Stennis Space Center's newest assignment includes propulsion testing on the upper stage of NASA’s Ares I and Ares V rockets and the main stage of the Ares V.

The Michoud Assembly Facility will shut down all operations tonight. Michoud manufactures the Space Shuttle's external tanks. Michoud is in in the eastern sector of New Orleans, LA, and Stennis is located northeast of Slidell, MS.

Both facilities endured damage from Hurricane Katrina. Many Michoud employees lost everything they owned, according to a post-Katrina NASA study. At one point, NASA officials feared that Michoud's damages and loss of operational time would impact the flow of Space Shuttle flights, but the facility bounced back to keep American spaceflights on track.

Stennis employees also suffered greatly from Katrina. The center itself opened as a storm shelter for the area, and cared for more than 8,000 people's medical needs along with serving hundreds of thousands of meals. FEMA and other agencies used Stennis as a staging area for post-Katrina work.

At present, Mission Control at Johnson Space Center, which manages the ongoing International Space Station (ISS) activities, remains open. Officials will continue to monitor the developing weather situation.

Damages to Kennedy Space Center from Tropical Storm Fay may cause a slight mission delay of one to two days for Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission STS-125, officials said. Along with Fay's effects, a problem with a guide pin during the mating of Atlantis to its engines caused a delay of the spaceship's rollout to the launch pad until Tuesday.

As of today, neither tropical storm is expected to affect Florida's East Coast and KSC.However, officials are keeping a close eye on Hanna, whose future storm track could change.