Thursday, August 31, 2017

NanoRacks Employees Devastated By Hurricane Harvey

In what is bound to be the story at many, local Houston technology companies, NanoRacks, one of the companies building prototypes of Mars habitats for NASA, said that its Houston employees have lost their homes, with many rescued by boat, after the devastating rains and flooding. NanoRacks launched a GoFundMe page to collect donations for its Houston office employees, with over $13K of a $15K goal raised in the last two days. Webster-based NanoRacks, along with Boeing's operations in Pasadena, Texas, are both recipients of $65M in NASA money to help NASA develop prototypes for housing astronauts on the Martian surface.

Earlier this week, NASA was forced to close Johnson Space Center in Houston except a skeleton crew to keep in touch with astronauts at the International Space Station; Johnson had said it would remain closed through Labor Day. Given the huge presence of companies in the space and aerospace industry in Houston, there is bound to be a major impact on the industry due to Harvey.

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