Astronauts watched from orbit as highly effective Hurricane Ian slammed into Florida on Wednesday (Sept. 28).
Expedition 68 astronaut Bob Hines of NASA captured footage of the weakening, but nonetheless forceful, hurricane from the Worldwide Area Station (ISS).
“This storm is HUGE! That’s the Mississippi River and New Orleans on the left. It covers your entire Florida peninsula! We might see by way of the attention simply because it was making landfall. Praying for the protection of everybody coping with #HurricaneIan,” Hines tweeted (opens in new tab) Wednesday.
Hurricane Ian weakened to a tropical storm because it crossed Florida on Thursday (Sept. 29). However it nonetheless introduced robust winds and heavy winds to the Area Coast, forcing the delay of a number of launches. For instance, earlier this week, NASA pulled its Artemis 1 moon rocket off Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Area Middle (KSC) to shelter on the cavernous Automobile Meeting Constructing. NASA had been concentrating on a Sept. 27 launch for the mission.
KSC is closed for regular operations whereas a small “rideout crew” stays to assist preserve the middle secure by way of the storm.
Associated: ‘Extraordinarily harmful’ Hurricane Ian makes landfall in Florida (video)
NASA and SpaceX additionally postponed the corporate’s Crew-5 astronaut mission to Oct. 5, at the least two days previous its unique scheduled launch alternative on Oct. 3. SpaceX and United Launch Alliance additionally selected to push different deliberate Area Coast launches from Friday (Sept. 30) into subsequent week on the earliest.
Ian was labeled as a Class 4 hurricane when it hit southwest Florida on Wednesday (Sept. 28), however it later weakened to a tropical storm. The ISS varieties a part of a community of observations monitoring the storm in actual time from orbit, though forecasts depend upon a set of satellites managed by NASA and the U.S. Nationwide Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), amongst different entities.
This storm is HUGE! That’s the Mississippi River and New Orleans on the left. It covers your entire Florida peninsula! We might see by way of the attention simply because it was making landfall. Praying for the protection of everybody coping with #HurricaneIan. 🙏 pic.twitter.com/sZZE9gugeaSeptember 28, 2022
NOAA’s advisory (opens in new tab) at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) on Thursday (Sept. 29) contains quite a few warnings of life-threatening flooding, storm surges, and winds, stretching throughout Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas.
“The middle of Ian is predicted to maneuver off the east-central coast of Florida quickly after which method the coast of South Carolina on Friday. The middle will transfer farther inland throughout the Carolinas Friday night time and Saturday,” NOAA officers stated within the forecast.
“Most sustained winds stay close to 65 mph (100 km/h) with increased gusts,” the company added, however warned “reintensification” might happen because the hurricane approaches the coast of South Carolina Friday. “Weakening is predicted Friday night time and Saturday after Ian strikes inland,” NOAA officers stated.
Daytona Seashore Worldwide Airport, simply an hour north of KSC, lately reported sustained winds of 60 mph (97 km/h) and a gust to 70 mph (113 km/h), NOAA stated.
Observe Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace (opens in new tab). Observe us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) or Fb (opens in new tab).