PERT: Evacuating Houston

14,000 people work at the Johnson Space Center, 1,000 more than at the Kennedy Space Center (but we don't know how many people work at the Air Force Base, where most the activity happens). In addition to astronaut training, the international space station is managed from Houston. In short, anything to do with manned space flight is managed in Houston. Anything to do with unmanned space flight is managed on the cape or somewhere else, like the JPL in California. The photo above is the Gemini, Apollo and early space shuttle mission control. Forty-two missions were run from here. But not the launches. So the Apollo launch control in Florida controlled events until the rocket lifted off the ground. Then Houston took over. The curvature in the photo is an illusion caused by stitching together several photographs: the workstations are in straight rows. The new mission control, which visitors can see if they come on weekends, is right behind the screens on the far wall.

Arriving at the Johnson Space Center as soon as it opened, the boys immediately got on the tram for the tour of the Apollo mission control, etc. Before they were done with the two-hour tour it was announced the space center was closing because of Tropical Storm Edouard. Here is how you evacuate Houston during a hurricane: use both directions of the interstate freeways to get away....