NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA



NASA

NASA

NASA

NASA

At first glance, the Kennedy Space Center survived the passage of Hurricane Matthew on Friday with only minor flesh wounds. According to NASA, after an initial aerial survey on Saturday, officials determined the center received some isolated roof damage, some downed power lines, and limited water intrusion. Further inspections will take place on Sunday, before officials clear buildings to reopen.

The hurricane's core came within about 20 miles of the space center, and the NASA facility along with the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station faced maximum sustained wind of 90mph, and top surface wind gusts of 107 mph. The storm surge measured only a few feet above high tide.

It could have been significantly worse. Instead of moving ashore along Florida's east coast near the space center, as the National Hurricane Center had forecast, Matthew remained just off shore. This kept its strongest winds, to the east of the storm's eye, off the coast. Additionally, instead of strengthening, Matthew weakened before landfall, with maximum sustained winds of 120 mph. Matthew's position, and slight weakening, also mitigated storm surge damage.

Initial surveys by commercial companies that launch from Florida's space coast on Saturday also revealed relatively minor damage. A SpaceX official told Ars, “Hurricane Matthew caused some damage to the exterior of SpaceX's payload processing facility at Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The company has a ready and fully capable back-up for processing payloads at its SLC-40 hangar annex building. There was no damage the company’s facilities at Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center.”

Additionally, United Launch Alliance chief executive Tory Bruno said on Twitter that its facilities saw only "light to moderate" damage and that flight assets had sustained no damage.

Listing image by NASA