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http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996354<br /><br />Hurricane Frances could destroy space shuttles <br /> <br /> <br />11:13 03 September 04 <br /> <br />NewScientist.com news service <br /> <br />Hurricane Frances, predicted to hit land 100 kilometres (62 miles) south of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, could cause catastrophic damage to the space shuttles and spacecraft stored there, meteorologists predict. The cyclone has also prompted a massive evacuation of areas in its path.<br /><br />At 0500 EST on Friday, the cyclone was passing over Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas and was travelling towards Florida at 15 km per hour (9 mph). It remains on an apparent collision course with Fort Pierce on Florida's east coast 460 km (285 miles) away and is expected to strike land after 2000 EST on Saturday.<br /><br />Frances eased a little during Thursday night, dropping from a category four to a strong category three hurricane. Its maximum sustained winds are still raging at 195 km per hour (120 mph). But forecasters at the US National Weather Service say that "some fluctuations in intensity are possible during the next 24 hours".<br /><br />If Hurricane Frances hits Florida as a category four, it would mark the first time on record that two category four storms have hit the US in the same year. Hurricane Charley slammed into the Florida’s west coast on 13 August 2004.<br /><br />But Frances is twice as large in area as Charley, and its hurricane-force winds extend 140 km (85 miles) from its centre. Tropical storm-force winds stretch 295 km (185 miles) from the hurricane's eye.<br /><br /><br />Torrential rain <br /><br /><br />That means Frances could still wreak havoc on the space center even though it is not predicted to pass directly overhead. The cyclone is expected to produce gusts of wind upwards of 240 km per hour and as much as 50 centimetres (20 inches) of rain in places.<br /><</safety_wrapper>