KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. – Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and the Kennedy Space Center remained closed to off-base personnel Friday as workers continued surveying damage from Hurricane Milton.
Pictures shared by the Space Force appeared to show the hurricane did not have a major impact on infrastructure.
As a result, the Space Launch Delta 45 commander gave the “all clear” for Patrick Space Force Base and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
“Though the ‘all clear’ has been given, many base agencies will not return to normal operations until Tuesday, Oct. 15, due to the federal holiday,” a release from the SLD 45 reads.
NASA’s thinking that Sunday might be its next launch, and it’s going to be a mission going to Jupiter. CBS News space consultant Bill Harwood explained the Europa Clipper mission will use the largest spacecraft ever for a planetary mission.
“That’s a $5.2 billion spacecraft that’s going to Jupiter to study the ice-covered moon Europa where scientists think there’s a subsurface sea that may prove to be habitable,” Harwood said.
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The last launch on the Space Coast was back on Monday, just in the nick of time before Milton’s approach to Central Florida.
The Hera mission will study the effects from when NASA intentionally crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid two years ago.
NASA called DART (double asteroid redirection test) its first planetary defense test.
If the space center reopens in time, the Europa Clipper launch could happen as soon as 12:12 p.m. Sunday.
On Friday, the space center said that its Visitor Complex will reopen Saturday.
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