Endeavour Heading Home

The mission of STS-118 will end a day early because Hurricane Dean might threaten Mission Control in Houston the day Endeavour was scheduled to land.

The main NASA center for manned spaceflight was established in Houston primarily for political reasons; the vice president of the United States at the time was Lyndon Johnson, a power behind NASA since his days in the U. S. Senate, canny politician, and proud Texan. The site of Mission Control generally made little difference as long as NASA flew individual missions of relatively short duration. With the advent of continuous flight aboard the International Space Station, Houston and Moscow share mission control duties.

As NASA moves into a new era of lunar bases and extended missions to Mars, establishing a backup mission control may be a good idea. In a time of terrorism and possibly increased hurricane activity, continual support for crews on other worlds must be taken into account.

Where should a backup facility be placed? Obviously it should be far enough away from Houston that a disaster affecting Houston wouldn't bother the backup facility. The Senate Majority Leader at the moment is Harry Reid of Nevada. Might a future spaceship named Endeavour depend on a mission control in Reno?