BY EUN KYUNG KIMFLORIDA TODAY
WASHINGTON - The workforce at Kennedy Space Center should remain steady through the next fiscal year, according to a new NASA report being released Wednesday.
However, the report doesn't change earlier NASA estimates that predict thousands of agency and contractor workers will be laid off once the space shuttle retires.
The report, the latest in a series the agency must submit to Congress, provides estimates only through the 2010 fiscal year. That's mainly because a presidential panel reviewing the future of NASA's human spaceflight program is expected to finish its work by the end of next month.
The report is a placeholder until the White House can evaluate the findings by the panel, headed by former Lockheed Martin chief executive Norm Augustine.
It says job levels at KSC should stay the same over the next fiscal year. Nationally, NASA's workforce is expected to increase by as many as 1,100 because of work created by an extra flight added to the space shuttle schedule.
Last week, Lisa Rice, president of the Brevard Workforce Development Board Inc., said an unreleased local government study is expected to show the shuttle's retirement could cost thousands more jobs in the area than previously expected.
As many as 6,000-7,000 jobs could be lost after 2010 at Kennedy Space Center because of the recession and concerns over the Augustine panel's work, Rice said.
Those figures are twice NASA's most recent estimates, which place KSC job losses between 3,000 and 4,000.
Rice said the White House could alter the current direction of the human space flight program once its review panel finishes work.
Initial studies estimated that the age of the shuttle program's workforce would help reduce job losses through retirement. But the economy has forced many workers to rethink retiring. That could leave more staff workers vulnerable to layoffs, Rice said.
4 comments:
USA has already announced a 5% reduction in October. It is only going to get worse. Who are these people trying to fool?
That's good news.
Just wait until Constellation is cancelled in favor of "alternatives" and see how many people end up digging crabs for a living. Watching NASA Update today I realized we're entering the era of the "touchy-feely NASA". I have full confidence that the agency will screw everything up like they did in 1993 when, against the advice of Mike Griffin, brought the Russians on board ISS, changed its orbit to 56.1 degrees inclination and made it essentially useless as a staging base for real exploration... all for the sake of "touchy-feely feel good politics". My advice, do what I plan.... I'm going back to Chicago the day after the last shuttle flight lands. There won't be any "Moon, Mars and beyond", only commerical ISS resupply and a few satellites to look at climate change. Welcome to NASA's HOPE AND CHANGE. I miss Mr. Griffin but think he may be the lucky one.
Hopefully there is a technological challenge for the Shuttle team to transition to that fully utilizes what they have learned from the design and flight operation of this vehicle. I, personally, don't see much of a challenge in the Ares/Constellation program. Looks like old technology to me......stuff that was developed for Apollo 40 years ago. Where's the challenge for the young engineers when all they have to do is dig up the old NASA TM's to find the answers, or are asked to run wind tunnel tests of a simple missle configurations? I know, it's a goverment directive and they have the money, but come on. The Shuttle program pushed the technology in aero-heating, thermal, aerodynamics, thermal protection systems, re-entry guidance and flight control, etc. Unfortunately, I don't expect to see these advancements coming from this Moon/Mars program. Too bad.....
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