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Friday 7 October 2016

Hurricane Matthew hits NASA’s launch centre...

Hurricane Matthew lashed NASA’s rocket launch facility at Cape Canaveral on Friday, forcing power outages and damaging roofs as it battered the Florida coast with wind gusts, the US space agency said.
Rockets, spaceships and crucial equipment for the US space program and private companies like SpaceX are all stored in the area, which is home to Kennedy Space Center.
By 9:45 am (1345 GMT), the worst of the storm had passed offshore from Cape Canaveral, NASA said on its website.
Just about an hour earlier, at around 8:30 am (1230 GMT), Category 3 Matthew shaved past the NASA launchpad at a distance of 26 miles (42 kilometers) off the tip of Cape Canaveral.
Winds were gusting at up to 107 miles (172 kilometers) per hour and tropical storm force winds are expected to continue until late Friday.
Cape Canaveral could see eight to 12 inches of rain, with storm surges as high as one to five feet.
A skeleton crew of 116 people was on staff at Kennedy Space Center to ride out the hurricane.
Their mission is to report on significant events to the Emergency Operations Center, located in the Launch Control Center at Complex 39, and take any needed actions help keep the facility secure.

Crews were expected to begin documenting the extent of the damage outdoors around Kennedy Space Center later Friday afternoon.

AFP

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