Florida's "Space Coast" mourns end of space shuttle era

By Marco Mierke Jul 8, 2011, 0:54 GMT

Titusville, Florida - The end of the space shuttle era means a crisis for the so-called 'Space Coast' of the United States, an area in Florida around the Kennedy Space Centre.

Not only is it expected to lose thousands of jobs, but also part of its identity. And locals just wish Washington had a different view of space research.

Some 800 residents of Titusville, Florida, came together Wednesday to mourn at a community hall, in what looked like a funeral for a dead friend.

First, they showed a documentary film on the history of the space shuttle. Then, they debated what is to happen to the area after Atlantis is launched Friday from the Kennedy Space Centre, on the last space shuttle mission.

The evening's conclusions were hardly upbeat, but everybody knew that in advance.

'The mood is very grim here,' said Walter Feitshans, one of the many concerned locals.

Life and jobs in this area are centred on the well-known space centre, the designated launch facility for NASA's space shuttles. Like nearby Cape Canaveral, Merritt Island and Cocoa, Titusville's whole identity rests on the United States' space successes.

The town's motto is no less than 'Nature - History - Space,' and it is nicknamed the 'Space City.' In restaurants and bars, walls are packed with photos of the shuttles and of the Apollo spacecraft. Astronauts, who are real local heros, are honoured in museums like the Founding Fathers, like rock stars.

This identity is currently suffering greatly as NASA's manned space flights are brought to an end.

NASA insists that it is in fact only a temporary suspension, since astronauts are again expected to travel to space from Cape Canaveral from 2015 in privately-developed spacecraft. In Titusville, however, most think that the break will last around 10 years.

'We ask what comes next,' says Jason Linkous, an evangelical pastor.

He perceives a lack of vision.

'What is going to bridge the gap from here to the future?'

The gap is of course mainly financial. Thousands of residents of the space coast are to lose their jobs with the end of the shuttles.

There are not really any precise figures, because NASA contracts out a lot of work to private firms. The local daily Florida Today estimates that 9,000 jobs will be lost at the Kennedy Space Centre alone, along with a further 11,000 across the region. In wages alone, the area is set to lose around 600 million dollars, the newspaper says.

Those who can are moving away. Young families in particular are heading out to Texas, Georgia or South Carolina, where aeronautical firms continue to need experts.

'We lost a lot of people already. It has affected our community a lot,' says James Hernandez.

Hernandez is upset that more and more shops are closing, and that more and more homes are staying empty.

The way out for the coming years appears to lie in tourism. Cocoa boasts 20 kilometres of public beach. Cruiseliners regularly dock in nearby Port Canaveral, and Cape Canaveral remains a tourist magnet even without shuttle launches, precisely due to the NASA Visitor Complex.

Eventually, however, locals will only be happy again once they see a new vision of space exploration in Washington, says Marcia Gaedcke, president of the Titusville Area Chamber of Commerce.

'We're still the Space Coast. We'll always be the Space Coast,' she stresses.