HOUSTON – Firefighters from five different agencies were called to the scene of a grass fire on Johnson Space Center property Wednesday afternoon.
The fire started around 2:30 p.m. in a field behind Building 14. That’s near the main entrance and Rocket Park, along Saturn Blvd.
From Air 11, firefighters could be seen battling the blaze and putting out flaming bales of hay.
A NASA spokesperson said the fire was sparked while engineers were testing new spacecraft technology called the Morpheus lander.
The Morpheus is the first new lunar lander made by NASA in 40 years and can fly up to a mile upward and horizontally in the air.
Project Morpheus testing has sparked fires before, but in the past, crews have been able to put them out right away.
Wednesday’s fire, however, got out of hand and swept across the dry grass from the southeast to the northwest, all the way to the parking lot of HFD’s Fire Station 72.
Firefighters said there were no reports of injuries, and by 5 p.m., crews had the situation under control.
