EUMETSAT Metop-A Image: Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans

On the 7th anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Hurricane Isaac hits the city (right-hand image). 

Unlike Katrina, which was a devastating Category 5 hurricane, Isaac is a Category 1 hurricane with wind speeds of around 80mph (128 km/h).

Left-hand image show Isaac approaching on 28 Aug. 0

Composite from 28/08/12 15:46 and 29/08/12 03:01 UTC Archive of Images

Credit the EUMETSAT Site

NASA Orion: Readying for Flight

The NASA team at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans has completed the final weld on the first space-bound Orion capsule.

The Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) Orion will be shipped to the Kennedy Space Center for final assembly and checkout operations.

The EFT-1 flight will take Orion to an altitude of more than 3,600 miles, more than 15 times farther away from Earth than the International Space Station.

Orion will return home at a speed of 25,000 miles, almost 5,000 miles per hour faster than any human spacecraft.

It will mimic the return conditions that astronauts experience as they come home from voyages beyond low Earth orbit.

As Orion reenters the atmosphere, it will endure temperatures up to 4,000 degrees F., higher than any human spacecraft since astronauts returned from the moon.

Image Credit: NASA/Eric Bordelon.