Power Outage July 16 Part of Updates to Johnson’s Infrastructure

Heads up, Johnson Space Center! There is an upcoming power outage on Saturday, July 16, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CDT.

Here is what you need to know.

Center Operations will be repairing two power poles, which means their associated power lines must be fully de-energized first. This will require power outages to the following buildings:

• 207/208 (Gilruth)
• 211 (JSC Child Care Center)
• 220 (Human Exploration Research Analog)
• 358/383 (Environmental)
• 380/381/382 (Logistics)
• 384 (Security) 

Before the Outage
Building construction and repairs are a normal part of maintenance at Johnson, and sometimes these changes require buildings to be fully powered down. Center Operations Directorate (COD) personnel have identified the buildings that will be affected, how long they will be out of power, and notified the appropriate facility managers. They have also provided alternate dates to facility managers in the event the outage needs to be rescheduled, abruptly ended, or extended due to the facility being unable to accommodate the outage, weather, or hardware failure. Depending on how critical the work is, it might not be possible to stop or take the time to notify everyone; however, COD’s goal is to always notify facility managers when schedule changes occur. 

What’s Going Down (Including the Power) on July 16
The outage on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CDT will repair two power poles near Buildings 221 and 220. While the pole near 221 has major woodpecker damage and must be completely replaced, the pole near 220 just needs to be straightened.

These imperfections were discovered through periodic power-pole inspections by the power contractor, PAE. Before the crew can get to work safely, the poles must be fully de-energized, resulting in the buildings listed above to temporarily lose power. Since the work is being done on a Saturday, most impacts will be felt by Johnson team members who usually go to the Gilruth Center and use the Starport Fitness Center — as that will be shut down for the day to accommodate the maintenance. 

Necessary Improvements Will Better Johnson’s Infrastructure
Over the past year, COD has also been hard at work replacing a large 138,000-volt ring bus at the electrical substation, which will take another year to finish. Other buildings at Johnson are not expected to experience power outages during that time; however, if the remaining transmission line or related equipment were to fail, an unexpected building outage could result. If that were to happen, COD workers would restore any power lost as quickly as possible.

Bottom Line: The Johnson team should have peace of mind knowing that COD is doing everything they can to carefully perform their work without impacting yours — and the mission. 

Want progress and updates regarding the outage? Join the Microsoft Teams channel, “JM5 200/300 Area Power Pole Outage.” If a code is requested, enter: 4GHDVJU

There, find a map under “Files” that shows the locations of the affected buildings and other updates as the work progresses.

Or, see the power outage map below.

Aerial view of NASA's Johnson Space Center. Credits: NASA