 CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA told a Senate
panel today that it anticipates losing
3,000 to 4,000 jobs at its launching
site once the space shuttles stop flying
in two more years, about half the
cutback initially reported.Although
as many as 6,000 to 7,000 shuttle jobs
will be eliminated at Kennedy Space
Center, about 3,000 positions will open
up in the new exploration program, said
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin.
Those jobs will be created to build and
fly new spaceships to the international
space station and, ultimately, to the
moon.
"I can't say it's good news, but it's
certainly news that's a step in the
right direction," said U.S. Sen. Bill
Nelson, D-Fla., chairman of the space
subcommittee, who organized the hearing.
The two-hour hearing, held in the
Port Canaveral offices just miles away
from Kennedy Space Center, attracted
local officials as well as dozens of
residents. Hundreds of people converged
for an outdoor rally right before the
morning hearing; organizers put the head
count at 1,000. They held signs reading
"America — one small step, one giant
voice" and "America the place for space"
and linked hands for the final seconds
of a recorded launch countdown to show
their support for a strong national
space program.
Nelson, who flew on space shuttle
Columbia in 1986 as a congressman, told
the crowd that he brought NASA's top
leaders to Cape Canaveral to speak
directly to the people whose jobs are in
jeopardy.
As the hearing got under way, the
senator noted there is an opportunity
now, with the upcoming presidential
election, to change space policy and get
more money for NASA.
When questioned by Nelson, Griffin
said he does not expect to have a
clearer job picture until 2009. NASA is
under presidential orders to complete
the space station and stop flying its
three remaining space shuttles in 2010,
then shift its focus to moon
exploration.
Many if not most of the engineering
jobs needed to sustain the new moon
program, called Constellation, will
likely be based in Cape Canaveral,
Griffin said. For the space shuttle,
those positions are primarily in Houston
and Huntsville, Ala., which are not
expected to have nearly as many, if any,
cuts.
Overall, the new rockets and
spacecraft will require fewer workers.
"We're trying to give you the best
bang for the buck that we can," Griffin
said.
It's expected to be 2015 — five years
after the last shuttle flight — before
NASA's new rocketship is ready to blast
off with astronauts. Nelson and Sen. Mel
Martinez, R-Fla., who attended today's
hearing, bemoaned the fact that the
United States will have to rely on
Russians to get Americans to the space
station during those five years.
Nelson said layoffs could
economically devastate the area, similar
to what happened during the lull between
the Apollo moon shots of the early 1970s
and the first space shuttle flight in
1981.
"The last thing we need to do is to
lose this tremendous work force, to put
people out of work, give them a pink
slip, while at the same time we're
generating jobs in Russia to accomplish
the same mission," Martinez said. "It's
shortsighted. It makes no sense. We need
to reverse it."
Griffin acknowledged he finds it
"unseemly in the extreme" to have to
rely on Russia.
"However, I can't find a way to avoid
it," he said.
It would have taken significantly
more money to get the new rocketship
ready earlier and narrow the five-year
gap, Griffin said. |
