Senate Field Hearing On Life After Shuttle Draws Hundreds Of Demonstrators

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - As Florida's Space Coast, home to Kennedy Space Center, grapples with the potentially devastating impact of thousands of lost jobs brought about by the retirement of the space shuttle in 2010, the state's two U.S. Senators held a special field hearing at Port Canaveral today to highlight the problems the local community and NASA face in the coming years, and options the space agency may be able to undertake to help mitigate the losses.

Senator Bill Nelson (D - Melbourne) chaired the hearing and was the only Senate committee member in attendance, but was joined by Sen. Mel Martinez (R - Orlando) in a show of bipartisan support for an issue that crosses party lines.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin testified first during the 2-hour session. Griffin did have some good news for worried space center workers and citizens, both in terms of job losses and potential future work for the space center.

Contrasting previous worst-case estimates of up to 6,400 job losses post-shuttle, Griffin said the number will actually be between 3,000 and4,000. While still significant, it's substantially less than the earlier figure. Previous estimates didn't take into account work for contracts that hadn't been awarded yet or new work that will flow into the space center, said Griffin.

Additionally, Griffin said that engineering work for sustaining Project Constellation (Ares, Orion and the Altair lunar lander) will be based at Kennedy Space Center, which is a departure from the shuttle program, which has sustaining engineering based mainly at Johnson Space Center in Texas and Marshall Spaceflight Center in Alabama. Basing the engineering work at Kennedy will likely result in hundreds, if not more, new positions being created at the center.

Griffing remained adamant that the shuttle must be retired in 2010 in order to keep Ares and Orion on schedule, due primarily to the shifting of funds from shuttle to Constellation and the need to turn over infrastructure for modification for the new program. However, under questioning from Sen. Nelson, he admitted NASA could fly an additional shuttle mission for another $300-400 million.

Nelson, other Senators and Congressmen as well as many scientists want the additional flight in order to fly the $1.5 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer which was dropped from the shuttle manifest after the Columbia accident in order that the agency could focus on completing assembly of the space station by 2010. Griffin said that if the go-ahead were given by February 2009, that "we could execute the mission in the late summer of 2010."

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill this year authorizing the additional funds, as well as an extra $1 billion to accelerate Constellation, by a whopping majority of 405 to 19. However, the Senate still has to take up the matter, and the White House has threatened to veto any budget that exceeds its request. The House authorization is $2.8 billion more than the President requested.

After the NASA Administrator finished and a short resess, a second panel of witnesses took the stand for questioning. Testifying during the session round of questioning were local leaders Lynda Weatherman of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, Steve Kohler of Space Florida and Lisa Rice of Brevard Work Force Development, Inc.

Rice informed the assembled crowd that the Aerospace Career Development Council managed to obtain $1.25 million in funding for retraining aerospace workers worried about the prospect of being laid off. Affected workers can turn to Brevard Work Force Development, Inc. to explore the opportunities available for retraining.

Local agencies such as the Space Coast EDS and Space Florida are engaging in a variety of projects to attract non-NASA (commercial) space projects to the area, and also new companies outside of the space industry, as highlighted by the recent agreement with Brazilian light jet manufacturer Embraer to locate an aircraft manufacturing facility in Mellbourne, FL., bringing with it 200 highly paid jobs.

In a show of community support for the space program, a grass-roots effort called Link To Launch (http://www.linktolaunch.org/) organized a demonstration outside the hearing venue at the Canaveral Port Authority. Over 1,000 people, both space workers and community residents, gathered at 8:30 to hear Nelson and Martinez speak to the crowd.

At 9 o'clock, the assembly, numbering in excess of 1,000 demonstrators, linked hands and raised them to the sky in a symbolic show of support for NASA and the U.S. space program. The demonstration was meant to highlight the potential economic impact of the shuttle's retirement in a personal and highly visual way for the dignitaries as well as news media.

Space Coast Loses A Vital Ally In Washington

It was bound to happen. U.S. Representative Dave Weldon announced he is going to retire and return to private life. NASA and the Space Coast will be losing a valuable ally in Washington.

Weldon, in his 7th term, holds a seat on the powerful Appropriations Committee. His position has enabled him to fight for space issues during critical times leading up to the initial assembly of the space station, during the aftermath of the Columbia accident and work to position Kennedy Space Center to move forward with Constellation.

His efforts have resulted in the preservation of necessary funding for the space center. He helped KSC secure the role as the site for final assembly of the Orion spacecraft. More recently, he proposed legislation to give NASA a $10 billion increase in funding in order to eliminate the now-infamous "gap" in human launch capability between the shuttle and Orion.

A number of Republicans have expressed interest in running for Weldon's seat, and most of them are supporters of space exploration. Unfortunately, regardless of how supportive any freshman Congressman may be, the Space Coast will lose Weldon's seniority, and influence, during the most critical time for NASA and the space industry since the early 1970's.

Read more: http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080126/NEWS01/801260345/-1/archives

Rep. Weldon's SPACE Act: http://weldon.house.gov/space_act/

Romney Visits The Space Coast But Makes No Promises

Presidential candidate mitt Romney paid a visit to Florida's Space Coast on Monday, but offered little more than vague support for NASA and the space industry. While he has expressed support for the space industry as well as the Vision for Space Exploration as outlined by President Bush (and made law by Congress), he declined, outright refused, to make any specific commitments to the space program during his visit.

"I do not have a budget for you on the gap," he said. "I'm not making promises, because I shouldn't make promises until I've studied something."

It's fair to note that Romney comes from a busines background, and was successful in his past endeavours. In business, promises shouldn't be made hastily or without knowing all the facts first. Perhaps that explains his slightly disappointing statements.

Romney definitely needs to do his homework. At one point he remarked, regarding the 5 year gay in U.S. human spaceflight beginning in 2010, "I would have guessed that would have been something we would have anticipated."

Well, in fact, the "gap" has been an unpleasant feature of the Vision since the beginning. Since the bulk of funding for Constellation (Ares V and the lunar lander, specifically) has to come from money freed up by retiring the shuttle, Constellation development won't be able to really ramp up until AFTER the shuttle is gone, and then it will take several years before it'll be operational.

The "gap" isn't a surprise to anyone except Romney. It is, however, a pending crisis which Giuliani recognized and spoke of it being "unacceptable." It would have been nice if Romney had, at the very least, voiced similar concern and desire to help.

I credit Mitt's lack of understanding to he and his staff not studying the issue closely (yet). There are a lot of other issues on the minds of Americans. Of course, before someone campaigns in the SPACE COAST, it might be a good idea to study up on the whole space program thing.

Hopefully, the Romney campaign will come up with some sort of science/space position paper before the primary. Other candidates have. Even Clinton and Obama have. As someone who professes to recognize the value of technology and R&D pre-eminence, Romney should realize that the space program is just about the biggest technology and R&D program in the country.

In spite of the tepid remarks during his visit, I actually expect Romney to be a strong supporter of space if he becomes president. I expect it because he understands the importance of national leadership in science, techology and, as I said, research and development. There's no mistaking that he wants to maintain the superiority of the U.S. in those areas, to strengthen the country at home and globally. I think that would translate over into his support for the space program.

I could be wrong, of course. In 2000, who would have thought that then Gov. Bush would end up being the President to set the country on a course back to the Moon and then to Mars. He certainly wasn't credited with having vision in 2000, but somehow (somewhat) it came through in 2004. In politics, there's always room for surprises.

Huckabee may visit Brevard County and KSC this week, but right now it looks like he won't. He'll be in Gainesville on the 22nd, then Ft. Lauderdale and Boca Raton on the 23rd and 24th. I didn't see a stop in Brevard in his schedule. He has, however, expressed support for the space program in the past.

Mitt Romney To Visit the Space Coast, Tour KSC

Following on the heels of Rudy Giuliani, Republican Presidential candidate Frm. Gov. Mitt Romney is scheduled to make a swing through Brevard County today. He will take a tour of KSC and see Atlantis on the launch pad and then will participate in a roundtable with space industry officials at Port Canaveral (AJT & Associates). Sponsored by the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, the seminar is the latest attempt at spurring the candidates' interest in , and hopefully support of, the space program, NASA and the need to devise a better transition to Constellation following the retirement of the space shuttle in a few years.

I'll be interesting to see what Romney has to say. His only previous comment regarding space was that he didn't see any need to change the direction the Vision for Space Exploration is taking the country. While not a condemnation of NASA or the Vision, it wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement either. Now that the battle for Florida is underway, I'm sure he'll have more (good) things to say. If we're lucky, he won't forget them on Jan. 30.

Republican Presidential Candidate Giuliani Voices Support For Kennedy Space Center

GOP Presidential candidate Rudolph Giuliani visited the Space Caost last Friday as he continues the campaign leading up to the state's Jan. 29 primary. He toured Kennedy Space Center, where he remarked, after seeing the space shuttle Atlantis on the launch pad, "It's remarkable to see it up close. The space program is one of America's remarkable achievements."

See Florida Today's report here: http://www.floridatoday.com/floridatoday/blogs/spaceteam/

The most important thing to come out of Giuliani's visit was his statements in support of providing the necessary support to NASA to minimize the gap between the retirement of the space shuttle and manned operational flights of Orion. During a projected 5-year gap, the U.S. will be dependent upon the Russians for supplying the International Space Station with supplies and crew transport using the Progress and Soyuz spacecraft.

Following a meeting with space industry leaders, who warned of serious consequences of "The Gap", Giuliani stressed his desire to minimize the the U.S. manned spaceflight downtime. "This is not acceptable," said Giuliani. "America should be No. 1 and shouldn't have to be dependent on other countries... Our goal is, let's make sure we close this gap."

Hopefully, his words won't be like those of so many politicians running for office: empty and quickly forgotten once power is gained. Rudy Giuliani is perhaps the most concered candidate regarding U.S. supremacy, especially in areas of national security and "high ground," so I'm cautiously optimistic his words can survive the remainder of the campaign.

It's interesting to note that of all the candidates who have the most realistic chances of becoming the next U.S. President, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. Barak Obama, Senc John McCain, Gov. Mitt Romney and Hon. Rudolph Giuliani, have expressed the strongest verbal support for continuing development of Orion and minimizing the transition time between shuttle and Constellation, although promises and plans are woefully lacking.

Let's hope they don't forget. But... I'm not going to take bets on it.