NASA shuts down base as Rita aims for Houston

COME in Houston, come in Houston.

NASA’s legendary base for astronaut training and Mission Control was empty yesterday as Hurricane Rita aimed for the Texas Gulf Coast and posed a flooding risk to Johnson Space Center.

The space centre was locked down, with the power turned off, and monitoring duties for the International Space Station were turned over to Russian flight controllers outside Moscow. The same thing happened in 2002 when another approaching storm threatened the space centre.