NASA and the Commerce Department plan to host a town hall meeting Friday in Orlando as part of a $40 million initiative to diversify the Space Coast economy, according to news releases from both agencies.
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and Commerce Secretary Gary Locke plan to listen to ideas and input from about 100 invited business and economic development officials from around the region.
Bolden and Locke are co-chairs of the Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development, established by President Obama to help the area weather the shuttle program's shutdown. As many as 8,000 Kennedy Space Center employees could lose jobs in the next year.
The event begins at 10:15 a.m. the Orlando Airport Hyatt Hotel and is expected to wrap up by noon.
NASA will broadcast the meeting live and stream it online. You can watch the TV coverage here by clicking on the NASA TV box at right.
The event comes two days after Labor Secretary Hilda Solis visited the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to announce a $15 million grant to help retrain and transition workers dislocated by the shuttle's retirement, planned after two more flights.
Space news and analysis from Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral 
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