Space industry in transition, community in peril?

By Anne K Walters Jul 11, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Titusville, Florida - The end of the shuttle programme with Atlantis' ongoing mission means not just the end of the spectacle that draws thousands to the slice of Florida beaches known as the Space Coast, but also the end of a livelihood for those who have serviced the decades-old craft.

On Friday, NASA launched its final shuttle, Atlantis, on the last mission of the 30-year programme, and when it returns to Earth on July 20, life will change drastically for many involved in the programme.

Working behind the scenes are not just the NASA employees in mission control, but the thousands of unheralded technicians who spent years applying fresh tiles and repairing damages sustained during flight.

Space exploration is ingrained in the culture of Titusville just outside the gates of the Kennedy Space Centre and other nearby communities, with nearly every family having someone who works at the facility or depends on it for income in some way.

Workers for United Space Alliance who do much of the routine work on the shuttle have been subject to layoffs for months as each subsequent shuttle was retired. The largest shuttle contractor, United Space Alliance, is expected to cut more than half of its workforce - 2,800 layoffs from that company alone in Florida, Texas and other states. Boeing is letting go 500 workers, and Lockheed Martin, which makes the shuttle's external tanks, will lay off 1,200 of its 16,000 space division workers.

Last summer before the cuts started, there were 9,000 contractors working on the shuttle programme, representing more than 600 million dollars in income for Florida, NASA said in a report.

One of those workers, Carolyn Burnham, worked for 30 years on the shuttle programme but decided to retire as NASA began downsizing its workforce.

She points to local restaurants that have closed in the face of the double whammy of the economic downturn and shuttle layoffs. 'You do notice,' Burnham said. 'And I'm afraid it's going to get worse.'

The church she attends and other congregations have established a fund to provide assistance to those hurt by the layoffs.

The federal government is spending millions to transition away from the shuttle programme with more that 40 million dollars in investment and additional funds to help small businesses in the region.

Those jobs can't all be shifted to new programmes within NASA or to the new commercial space ventures, which simply cannot handle the numbers of workers employed by the shuttle.

'It's going to require a complete culture shift out there,' said Marcia Gaedcke, president of the local Chamber of Commerce. 'And we're just hoping that all those stars align and it all falls into place. But as a county and a community we're not sitting back and hoping people will rescue us at the last minute.'

One group, Brevard Workforce, is trying to help by providing retraining and helping with job searches and other needs for nearly 5,100 workers.

The group has also been working with employers such as General Electric to promote the highly skilled workforce that will be searching for jobs. Many are professionals who have never had to look for a job from scratch before, said Judy Blanchard, the group's director of industry relations.

Among the challenges is convincing many of the workers registered for the aerospace transition programme that 'there is life after' the shuttle, she said.

Many workers had held out hope that politicians and NASA would eventually decide to keep the shuttles flying for a bit longer. But now that the end is looming, Blanchard points to opportunities.

Some transition is underway with construction on a business park just outside the gates of the space centre.

NASA plans to shift its focus to travelling to deep space, continuing development of a heavy-lift rocket and spacecraft. Travel to nearby destinations will be outsourced to commercial firms, such as SpaceX and Boeing. New jobs will be available at NASA and those firms, though not as many as in the shuttle programme.

'Not only is this good for the United States, I believe it will benefit all of humanity,' said NASA's Phil McAlister in outlining the shift to commercial space providers. 'We cannot have future of spaceflight depending solely on political winds.'

Not all of those commercial jobs will be in Florida since many of the firms are located elsewhere, but efforts are underway to convince them of the benefits of the location and existing infrastructure for at least part of their operations.

The Chamber's Gaedcke has faith that the town will emerge from the loss of its economic pillar, pointing to its highly educated workforce and proximity to Orlando.

'We have been very blessed to have the shuttle programme, and we continue to be blessed that America's space programme happens from here,' she said.

Meanwhile at least the tourists will likely continue to flock here. The Kennedy Space Centre's visitor complex will display the shuttle Atlantis once it is taken out of service, bringing in even more visitors to the museum.