There may possibly be a delay on the next NASA venture into deep space. In addition to many homes and vehicles damaged by Tuesdays tornado in New Orleans - the Michoud deep-space rocket facility in New Orleans that puts together key components of the deep space rocket were damaged.

About the last thing you want when you're tooling around with hydrogen and liquid oxygen is a tornado ripping off sections of the roof.

NASA said all employees and contractors were accounted for and safe from harm with only one injury reported.  Everyone sheltered in place as the tornado, which could be clearly seen from office windows, approached.

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While the hardware including fuel tanks for the rocket system were undamaged, workers immediately got to work after the storm danger passed on patching the roof to prevent water damage to the elaborate deep space systems components, and the highly technical and expensive welding equipment used in its construction.

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The Michoud facility has a long history in New Orleans having built fighter planes in WWII, stages of the Saturn V which launched America toward the moon and most recently before this project - the plant built the space shuttles external fuel tanks.

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