Coming end of space shuttle jobs: new beginning

The executive editor of FLORIDA TODAY, Bob Stover, took a deeper look in the Sunday newspaper at some of the changes ahead for Florida's Space Coast because of the imminent retirement of the space shuttle.

In case you missed his special column, Bob caught up with former Congressman Lou Frey, Workforce Brevard chief Lisa Rice and Space Florida leader Frank DiBello about the challenges that as many as 7,000 lost shuttle jobs could pose for the local area.

You might remember that Frey was our U.S. Representative during the transition from Apollo to the space shuttle, the last time such a huge number of space jobs vanished from the local economy at once. Frey, Rice and DiBello did not try to sugarcoat the situation, but they gave more reason for optimism than you might suspect.

It's worth your time to catch up on the column.