1998 Florida Firestorm

NASA

The 1998 Florida Firestorm and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center

East central Florida’s natural environment and climate have shaped, and delayed, Kennedy Space Center launch operations since the 1960s. Torrential pop-up thunderstorms, Atlantic hurricanes, roasting heat, and other climatic phenomena, including lightning and fire, repeatedly hampered mission timelines and created dangerous conditions for astronauts and workers. Lightning Crashes Kennedy Space Center personnel understood the dangers of lightning strikes all too well by…