Japan has shut down its primary space center — including a
control room for part of the International Space Station — after
the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the country
Friday. JAXA, Japan's space agency, evacuated its Tsukuba Space
Center in Tsukuba, Japan, following an 8.9-magnitude earthquake
and subsequent tsunami that have devastated the country. The
space center oversees Japan's Kibo laboratory on the space
station, as well the JAXA's unmanned cargo ships that deliver
supplies to the orbiting lab. Flight controllers with Tsukuba's
Space Station Integration and Promotion Center were sent home
for safety, JAXA officials said. "They will stay with their
families and take care of them during the weekend," JAXA
spokeswoman Kumiko Sagara told Space.com via e-mail from NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston. "They will come back on Monday
and check up on how much the damage is." The Tsukuba Space
Center sustained some damage, according to photos provided to
the website collectSpace.com, a Space.c