CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA is putting a little more emphasis
this
year on the "green" part of the traditional red and
green colors for
Santa Claus' flyby of Florida's Kennedy Space Center on Dec.
24.
Kennedy's Shuttle Landing Facility, with its 15,000 feet of
runway
nestled in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, should
be a
familiar sight along the Space Coast for Santa. Like many other
government agencies, NASA grants Santa permission to fly over
Kennedy's airspace during his globetrotting flight, so there
will be
no mistaking mistletoe for missiles.
Kennedy is becoming more environmentally friendly and is happy
to show
off the center's green spaces to the jolly old fellow this year.
So
for one night, the LC-39 area temporarily will become the SC-39
area
-- as in the Santa Claus-39 area.
It is obvious St. Nick is no stranger to using an alternative-fuel
vehicle. He has been using reindeer-powered propulsion, or in
NASA
acronym terms RPP, for centuries. But if Dasher or Comet need
a
little rest while traveling over Central Florida, Santa might
consider borrowing one of Kennedy's more than 900 alternative-fuel
vehicles. Perhaps he'll get behind the wheel of an electric car,
which can travel about 100 miles for less than $2.00. The center
is
planning to have its entire fleet of automobiles running on
substances other than gasoline within a decade.
If Santa is looking to expand his toy workshop at the North
Pole, he
might want to adopt some green principles from the construction
folks
at Kennedy. Five facilities are qualifying for the U.S. Green
Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,
or
LEED, certification. The Life Support Facility already earned
silver
certification, and the Propellants North Facility is expected
to
receive the highest rating, platinum, when it is complete next
summer. There are about 145 platinum-rated facilities in the
United
States with only one other in Florida. The green features at
the
Propellants North Facility will include high-efficiency walls,
a roof
constructed of recycled metal covered with a rainwater harvesting
system to supply restroom fixtures, air conditioning with energy
recovery technology, and landscaping that will use native species
and
recycled crushed crawlerway rock for mulch.
Even though Santa will be flying by the light of a half-moon
Christmas
Eve, he will get to see for the first time Kennedy's new solar
power
facilities. A one-megawatt solar farm inside the center has been
supplying the spaceport with clean, renewable energy for several
months. A 10-megawatt facility outside Kennedy's gates along
State
Road 3 is set to be complete in the spring and will supply
electricity to Florida Power & Light customers. There are
even plans
to increase that solar farm's generating capacity to 100 megawatts.
If Santa has any plastic milk jugs he wants to recycle after
visiting
houses and eating cookies in the area, he can take advantage
of
Kennedy's growing recycling program. In 2009, employees collected
about 496 tons of office paper and cardboard, 1,364 tons of metal,
and 15 tons of plastic, glass and aluminum. Also, about 30,000
tons
of recycled concrete was used in this year's NASA Causeway seawall
repair project. The proceeds from recycling activities are used
to
fund additional recycling, green purchasing and pollution-prevention
efforts.
In case anyone gets concerned Santa will be so influenced
by seeing
all the eco-friendly and recycling initiatives at Kennedy that
it
will affect his present-giving strategies, NASA officials are
confident Mr. Claus will not start "regifting."
For more information about NASA's Kennedy Space Center, visit:
Thanks to Allard Beutel at NASA's Kennedy Space Center
for the above press release.
Also visit these related sites:
NORAD Santa Tracking
- The North American Air Defense Command will be tracking Santa's
flight on Christmas Eve. Click on the flag appropriate to your
language.
Santa and his Reindeer
- Track Santa and his famous reindeer
as they fly around the world this Christmas Eve. Also get the
inside scoop on the sleigh and Donner's real name.
Web of Christmas
- From around the world we say Merry Christmas and a Happy
New Year. Some surprising background on our holiday traditions,
plus Christmas greetings in a hundred languages.
Give
and Give Back - Instead of piling up
more stuff that no one knows what to do with, consider a charitable
gift that will do a lot of good.
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