Tuesday, April 13, 2010

President Obama To Lay Out Plan To Bring 2,500 Extra Jobs To KSC

President Obama will outline a plan for NASA on Thursday that will bring 2,500 more jobs into the Kennedy Space Center area than the Project Constellation moon program that he aims to cancel, a senior White House advisor told Florida Today.

Scheduled to fly to the Space Coast for a space summit, Obama will announce plans to restructure the Orion spacecraft to develop an emergency crew rescue vehicle for the International Space Station, reducing reliance on the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Obama also will commit to making a decision in 2015 on what type of heavy-lift launch vehicle NASA will develop for missions beyond Earth orbit. The decision will be based on the results of a $3.1 billion heavy-lift technology development program outlined in his proposed 2011 budget.

See the outline here.
See summary of Florida impact estimate here.

The president also will announce the establishment of a task force that will study local economic development opportunities as well as retraining programs for displaced workers. The task force will report back to the White House in 120 days.

More to come.

36 comments:

Anonymous said...

He will commit to making a decision in 2015??? It's a bold assumption that he will get re-elected at this point in time.

Anonymous said...

he has a plan. just dont ask what it is. maybe he wants to see how much CHANGE will happen b4 his plan goes into effect

Anonymous said...

"He will commit to making a decision in 2015??? It's a bold assumption that he will get re-elected at this point in time."

Very bold! Not gonna happen. And the folks here are supposed to do what, hang out on government welfare for 5 years and wait? Pathetic!

Anonymous said...

Doesn't sound all that bold, or all that much like a plan.

I hope for a change.

Anonymous said...

Do you know what kind of speech he will have at KSC? Well, none of the workers are invited to it and it will be broadcast live on NASA TV when mostly everyone is leaving. His small live audience of 200 is hand selected and I am sure there will not be any questions that he does not like. It is all planned out and set up for him to answer what he wants too. I would not trust him. He lied before in Titusville in 2008 and he will do it again. More info: http://www.nasawatch.com/

Hellobadtimes.... said...

He better bring the jobs before he loses the work force because there will be many people moving out of Brevard when it hits the fan. Bad times are coming our way for everyone who lives here. I am sure glad we sold our home and ready to move when the pink slips happen. There are better places to find a job besides Brevard. I can see 15-20% unemployment coming soon and home prices going down another 20G by 2011. It will be like Detroit soon. The chain reaction of indirect jobs losses will be over twice as much as KSC workers. There are small companies already closing down. The total of all job losses will be 25,000+ when it all hits the fan. Ka-poop.

Anonymous said...

I'll vote for him! Stop the waste!

Rubber Ducky said...

Geez, I hope the Teaparty loonies come out in force to protest this intrusion of the federal government into local affairs.

Gaetano Marano said...

"Begins major work on building a new heavy lift rocket sooner, with a commitment to decide in 2015 on the specific heavy-lift rocket that will take us deeper into space."
.
develop the hadware for lunar missions needs 8-10 years, so, "decide [the HLV] in 2015" means NO lunar landings before 2023-2025
.
"Restructures Constellation and directs NASA to develop the Orion crew capsule effort in order to provide stand-by emergency escape capabilities for the Space Station - thereby reducing our reliance on foreign providers."
.
but no Ares-1
.
also, an Orion built ONLY to serve as ISS "rescue capsule" is very expensive and useless... it's much cheaper to (just) docks a third Soyuz to the ISS
.

Anonymous said...

all you NASA Obama racists go get some cheese for that whine!!! Obama will cruise to reelection in 2012 and then hopefully he puts you losers at the Cape right into the unemployment line!!

Anonymous said...

FDR will commit to making a decision about the response to the Pearl Harbor attack by 1946.

As a lawyer, Obama should realize that time is always of the essence.

Anonymous said...

You know what really freaks me out? The pic you guys have of Obama with the celestial light emanating from his head?! What gives? Is this a prank? Pretty disturbing. I'll read the article now. Had to get this off my chest.

Anonymous said...

Keep Constellation and scrap pbo.

Anonymous said...

If it is true he will wait until 2015 to make a decision, then he is clearly incompetent, or actually purposefully destroying some of the most advanced technical capabilities this nation has ever created.

Oh yeah, and the high speed rail system farce ? Anyone read the recent LA Times article about how the Chinese are selling a high speed rail system to California? They get to do all the engineering and other high tech work. What's wrong with this picture? Why not take some of the highly skilled space program personnel and create a couple of "Manhattan Project" like efforts for various things - including high speed rail and advanced fuel cell technology adapted for home use.

Anonymous said...

Time to start impeaching Obama!!!

Impeach Obama for destroying American freedom and security.
Aiding the enemy. The Space Shuttle provided jobs and manned access into space.

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if the President's "plan" has been published somewhere accessible for public review?

Any details on who actually formulated this plan with/for the President?

Perhaps Florida Today might pursue this and publish a follow up article.

Anonymous said...

What would the "Space Coast" be without the Space Center and NASA you idiots? How about the "Waste Coast"...been to SW Florida lately, pretty nice yeah?

Anonymous said...

Anyone know if this "plan" is available for review by the public?

Who created this plan, or provided input to the President?

The "outline" link referenced in the story above only presents a bulletized list. Details should be made public.

Perhaps Florida Today might be able to do some digging and print a follow up story with this information.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it funny that the Obama supporters keep trying to bring race into everything Obama??? Keep trying to paint those that disagree with Obama as racists....people see through it and it will further separate the liberals from the rest of society.

Obama has already decided there will be no real space program. Since elected he hasn't shown any genuine interest since his campaign promise speeches in 2008. The fact that he is only addressing a hand-picked audience reflects his inability to deal with any criticism at all. He knows he does not have a political leg to stand on in this area any longer, and he does not care. The people that support everything Obama pushes will rally around this and those that know that this new direction is the wrong one will recognize his failed vision for what it is.

I'm looking forward to what Obama is bringing to the table in a way. Even though I and many other good people will lose their jobs and move away, some will lose everything and the experience will be lost forever. I will, with a macabre glee, enjoy watching the local economy fall under the loss (and mine as well). When everything is going south it will be enlightening to see how the supporters react when central and north Brevard become economic dead zones. I wonder if ever they will realize that their hatred and bitterness contributed to Obama's apocalyptic vision for our historic county.

Anon 9:19PM - your mom wants you to do your homework and quit playing on the computer. Why don't you go and watch SpongeBob or something? Find a hobby, other than troll. Have a cookie or go bully someone...anything other than childish drivel.

Anonymous said...

Only FLAT could have the audacity to claim this plan is ADDING jobs.

Anonymous said...

If the republicans don't interfere...the local economy might just stand a chance. They just don't seem to be able to look outside of the "box"

Kind of like the typical engineer...

Anonymous said...

That's one small step for Barack, on giant leap for the space coast into oblivion.....

Anonymous said...

odumbass in 2012.....you have got to be joking homies.....live your silly dream now. he will be getting a smack down in Novemeber when his congress gets routed!

Anonymous said...

But do you really need 2500 to man a soup line?

Anonymous said...

The only re-election cruse Obama will be taking in 2012 will be a Titanic one on the epic failboat.

All you hate-hustling race-pimps can crawl under a rock and choke pon a stick afterwads.

Anonymous said...

Armstrong said it best:

the USA is far too likely to be on a long downhill slide to mediocrity.

And almost there for a Change.

Armstrong for President!

Anonymous said...

Go home, Mr. President. I don't want to hear another word.

Canes08 said...

wow a lot of people claiming racism... but I haven't read any racist comments. Sounds like some people have no grounds to argue in behalf of the worst president since Carter. The only people playing the race card are those who have no idea what they are talking about. Obamas speech at KSC is a joke, staged and not worth listening to anyway, to bad we can't make him stay in washington so we the tax payer don't have to pay for his flight down here.

Anonymous said...

The to end the Shuttle means that approximately 6,000 jobs need to be transitioned into the new space strategy and related industries. To ease the transition for workers dislocated while the new space strategy is being implemented, the President is proposing to dedicate $40 million of the funds requested for the Constellation transition to transform the regional economy and prepare its workforce for these new opportunities.

Anonymous said...

I guess if one simply disagrees with Obama or any of his administration's policies they can be labeled a racist. Seems like we've hit another low in our society... And by the way, making assumptions and planning that far into the future is a joke. As I learned the hard way myself, much can change in just five minutes, let alone five years. I agree completely with Canes08 previous post. Really sorry we have to pay for this PR stop.

Anonymous said...

Basically what we expected visit would be....He's going to do what all good democrats are doing right now....throw money into what amounts to a welfare program...an excuse to keep people employed with no meaningful goals in the next 5 years.

He had to cancel constellation....and he cant let orion continue as is because they are bush programs....but this 'change' to a smaller, less capable design will be 'his' bold space program.

Anonymous said...

'Only FLAT could have the audacity to claim this plan is ADDING jobs.'

Too true....despite the fact that obama has stuck our community on the failboat without a paddle, FLAT is showing its insatiable lib bias by trying to sell us his line, regardless about the truth really is.


Just like all the local outlets touting the rallies against teacher merit pay...without noting that good teachers will make up to $25,000 more under merit pay, while bad ones get flushed from system.

Anonymous said...

'Anonymous said...

He will commit to making a decision in 2015??? It's a bold assumption that he will get re-elected at this point in time.'


He's just passing the bedpan to the next guy.

Mom & Dad said...

Here's the intro to an article from a year ago in a SpaceFlightNow:

"China readies military space station – launch coincides with shuttle phaseout
BY CRAIG COVAULT
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: March 2, 2009

China is aggressively accelerating the pace of its manned space program by developing a 17,000 lb. man-tended military space laboratory planned for launch by late 2010. The mission will coincide with a halt in U.S. manned flight with phase-out of the shuttle."

Two days later a Presidential Memorandum was issued to allow China to import an environmental chamber used in the solid rocket motor industry. A month later on 21 April 2009 a Presidential Memorandum was issued to allow China to acquire three other machines used to make solid rocket motors (a grinder for ammonium perchlorate, a mixer for high-viscosity propellants and a filament winding machine for winding rocket motor cases). Each item was purportedly to be used for other specific purposes like auto parts manufacture, polymer mixing, paints and cosmetics, and structural poles.

We're not only loosing the jobs, we're loosing the capacity to go into space and we're giving away the technology that took decades to perfect. Think of all the refinements NASA sponsored to AP particle size reduction mills and high viscosity propellant mixers. Think of the refinement of filamant winding machines done by the Air Force for ballistic missile rocket motor cases.

Why did our chief administrator do this? Why was it touted to be for non-space applications. Why is the Administration fostering a US space gap and a foreign technology leap?

Anonymous said...

Well, the space should let the public know a little more about what h is going up there, maybe some of you would not be making these comments. What you guys all depended on this one job for years, how about a second career. Regardless what president republican or democrats, people will complain, the president cannot never please everyone. we make lots of comments without thinking about them first. maybe some of you should ask god whats really going on. do any of you pray, pray for the best that if obamas do cancel the plan, you will find your way, or even ask for a better path in life. or just maybe he want cancel the space program and hopefully you will raises, better positions, maybe even refer a friend for new employment. we go through life making every situation more difficult that it really is......prayer, love, hope and faith is your answer to life, whether it be a job, a marriage, ect....we worry to much about what we are going to loose rather than having faith to gain, keep your head up all of you, god will rescue you in any situation if you have just a little bit of faith,
god bless all of you!

Anonymous said...

This "program" is Obama's pay off for his campaign, and nothing else.

40 mil devided by 6 k people is $ 6,700 each (if the $ were actually $ and actually given out directly - a cold day in hell) Here your bonus for working at Ksc, now goodby!