Cleo and Dora Visit the Cape
The nearby passage of hurricanes Cleo in late August and Dora in early September 1964 caused an estimated $35,000 worth of damage, but a delay of only three days. The editor's "Spotlight" in the 3 September edition of the Spaceport News reported the lack of major damage to NASA facilities and dispensed credit widely - from the people who drew up the storm plans to the man who laid the last sandbag in place a few hours before Cleo swept by. That everything went off without a hitch reflected favorably on the advance planning. "It was a team that got the job done," the editor wrote. "Everyone involved directly in securing operations had his work to do, and did it with the minimum of hubbub."26
The editor singled out "Hurricane" Jones. A KSC engineer with the Instrumentation Division's acoustic and meteorological section, bachelor Jones had volunteered to ride out the storm in the huge launch control center at complex 37, gathering weather data. From 10 a.m. on Thursday until relief came at 7:30 the next morning, he recorded winds that peaked at 112.6 kilometers per hour. The reluctant hero admitted that he had misgivings during his lonely vigil, even though he had thought the launch control center looked like the safest place in the vicinity.27
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