Houston, We Have a Hurricane

Aug. 19, 2007 — -- Endeavour is coming back to Earth a day early to dodge Hurricane Dean.

The Endeavour crew was on a spacewalk just as the shuttle was passing over the hurricane swirling over the oceans below. The astronauts were stunned by the monstrous storm.

Mission Control, which is headquartered in Houston, is potentially in the path of the storm.

The space agency faced the agonizing scenario of having to evacuate its entire team of rocket scientists just as the damaged Endeavour made its critical return to Earth.

"It would have been irresponsible for us to not pay attention to this storm," said Leroy Cain, of the NASA mission management team. "It's a big storm and it's a serious storm."

Two years ago, Houston was in the direct path of Hurricane Rita. The panicked evacuation caused the worst traffic jam in Texas history.

Many Lone Star residents said they learned from their mistakes. And even with Dean approaching, they are reluctant to leave.

"You just don't want to get caught with the crowd, [with] the people who don't get prepared," said resident Ron McDowell, who was stocking up on supplies, "and then [you want to] not get caught with the freeway with a half a tank of gas."

President Bush, who is vacationing in Texas, signed a pre-landfall disaster declaration to help rush in emergency assistance if Dean blows through Texas.