1,200 NASA workers to be laid off

[sonomak]

Source: CNN

More than 1,200 NASA workers will be laid off Friday, despite Congress passing a $19 billion budget for the space agency two days earlier.

Lori Garver, NASA's deputy administrator, said Thursday she didn't believe the bill would affect planned layoffs, "certainly not for tomorrow." Thursday was the last day for laid-off employees to report to their workstations. Shuttle workers on their last day were to receive their final paperwork. Many of the departing workers have worked on the shuttle program since its beginning.

Late Wednesday, the House passed the NASA Reauthorization Act following the Senate's approval, giving NASA the authority to move forward with President Barack Obama's strategy for the agency. The bill overwhelming passed both houses of Congress and Obama is expected to sign it. The exact amount of money each NASA program receives will be decided by congressional appropriations, but not until after the November elections.

The bill authorizes an additional shuttle launch, extending the retirement date of the shuttle program from February 2011 until June 2011. The NASA administrator said an additional shuttle mission could help stock additional supplies on the international space station. The bill extended the space station's life five additional years, until 2020. It's expected as the shuttle program comes to an end that more than 9,000 shuttle workers will lose their jobs.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/10/01/nasa.layoffs/

[Posteritatis]

1. Argh. (nt)

[bkozumplik]

2. thats just wierd

NASA has always been a symbol of our preeminence.

I always sort of felt that things change and we're in decline..and bad things happen, but the stoney foundations of "us" are almost immobile. I guess make that "were" always immobile.

truly bizarre.

[MilesColtrane]

3. Well it looks like it's the defense industry or Wal-Mart for those poor bastards.

[Kolesar]

10. NASA was corporate welfare for Boeing

We really don't need flights to Mars or kid's experiments to see if spiders can weave a web in zero gravity.

[freedom fighter jh]

13. Yup. I've always been appalled by the amount of money that goes for something that is,

really, nonessential while real needs go unmet.

But I hope they don't cut the Earth Science program. No one has a better grip on climate change than NASA.

[joshcryer]

23. It's like 1% of the budget.

NASA's total budget (not entirely space related, it also covers aeronautics, STEM, tech devlopment, etc) is less than the DOE's space budget.

[JDPriestly]

4. Our country is just closing down.

It's like a person slowly dying, one organ failing after the other.

[joshcryer]

5. Space Shuttle holdovers, many of which were going to retire anyway.

Not a huge loss.

[flyarm]

7. bullfuckingshit! wow some new dems never amaze me! eom

[Mugweed]

12. Thanks for the humanity

Hundreds facing unemployment in a tight job market, chained to their homes in a shitty housing market and unable to move to better employment areas...no huge loss to YOU. All because Bush wanted to live out one more childhood fantasy. He was a cowboy, a pilot, president, then he wanted to be a spaceman. But the Shuttle program wasn't enough. Like most children, he was more fixated on the sci-fi Mars scenario. The Constellation program was a right-wing inside deal that sent us backwards into 1960's splashdown technology and was doomed from the start. The Shuttle program was useful.

Very shallow and callous of you to just shrug your shoulders over what's going to happen here in the Space Coast. And to all the Luddites that think that the space program wasn't beneficial, please get a brain...morans.

edited for my own crappy spelling

[flpab]

14. ditto

We are not upside down on our home here on the space coast but have seen our house tax bill go from our home being worth 300,000 to this year 177,000. We have known for years that 2010 was the end, only thought that the idiots running NASA would have a plan in place to get us to the space station without a huge gap. Every dollar spent in space comes back seven fold. NASA has given away so much to big business for years. They have invented so much for mankind. We are going to be in huge trouble on the space coast, everyone will be hurting because everything is tied to NASA. Piss poor planning.

[Starry Messenger]

18. *megadittos*

+++++++++

[joshcryer]

19. STS was a dud, it *had* to be retired if our space program was to advance.

STS killed 14 astronauts. Bush actually approved of a plan to keep the jobs around by offloading jobs to Ares I (yet another unsafe design that had a 100% fraticide risk according to the USAF). NASA has been, for far too long, the pet jobs program for cost-plus contractors. It still is in many ways, given the approval of the Nelson Rocket. Many of those jobs are going to retirement, that's a fact, this particular lay off has been on the books for many years now and everyone had a chance to be prepared for it if they weren't heading in to retirement. The real job losses are going to come about when STS finally retires, some 9k jobs. Those jobs will be saved by the Nelson Rocket, but it will take 3-4 years for it to be realized. The private space industry will likely soak up a lot of them in the intrim.

[tomm2thumbs]

6. I'm guessing India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Russia will all be on resume hunts for talent

why train anyone when you can buy it at Swap Meet prices on the aftermarket

sad, really sad

[southmost]

8. i know people who are losing their jobs in NASA Clearlake, TX

and of course they believe it's all Obama's fault

[flpab]

15. Bush not Obama

We have known for years, 2010 was the cut off but the Bush admin just kept talking about Mars and the moon, what about the space station you idiot?

[LunaSea]

9. Before you lament the death of space exploration....

I've got friends at a couple of NASA centers that are losing their jobs, and more that are worried.
Yes, it sucks despite the fact that some of these job losses were signed off on in 2004.
Spaceflight is a heartbreaking business. Ask anyone who's gotten involved.

But it's hardly coming to an end.

Pay attention people.
The Real Space Age is just getting started.

(Also, most of the companies described below... are hiring!)



(Anti-)socialism in space
Criticism of the Obama Administration’s policies as “socialist” don’t match with what it has proposed to do with NASA.

by Jonathan Coopersmith


In one of the more bizarre aspects of an already confusing political season, many conservatives have assailed the Obama administration for allegedly dragging the United States into a radical “socialism.” These attackers have obviously not examined the president’s proposed space policy.
The ideological contradictions are amusing. Some politicians who decry federal efforts to ensure the safety of workers in mines and other workplaces have been uncompromising in their belief that only the government and not private enterprise can guarantee worker—astronaut—safety in space.

Realizing how internationally competitive space has become, the Obama Administration is trying to make NASA more flexible and innovative by proposing the most market-oriented space policy in decades. The plans to revamp the human space program have received the most media and political attention. Less reported but as significant are efforts to advance commercial development, to encourage aerospace exports by significantly streamlining the bureaucratic International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) process, and to revamp the NASA Advisory Council to promote a more entrepreneurial perspective.

snip

Possibly more important than changing the direction of human exploration is the renewed emphasis on technology development to reduce the cost of operating in space. This is seed corn whose harvest will take years but will reap significant benefits in easing the challenges of exploring and exploiting that hostile environment. Lowering the cost of space operations will expand opportunities for new as well as current space users. This could be the most significant space legacy of the Obama Administration.

The major opposition to these proposals has come from senators and representatives whose districts and states would lose jobs. The space industry and astronaut community have been split. The ideological contradictions are amusing. Some politicians who decry federal efforts to ensure the safety of workers in mines and other workplaces have been uncompromising in their belief that only the government and not private enterprise can guarantee worker—astronaut—safety in space. Proponents of limited government are trying to halt programs that would encourage commercial space development.

The arguments are partially crouched in terms of job losses. Other arguments concern national prestige and wasting the money already spent on VSE. The logic for the last is worrying: If a policy is not succeeding, why continue spending money on it?
While still based on the VSE concepts, the Senate proposal does lay the foundations for a future healthy, internationally competitive and inspirational American space industry.

The new proposals for exploration are more exciting and stimulating than returning to the Moon. As well as exciting startups and smaller players, the new plans have produced ideas like Lockheed Martin’s proposed human asteroid mission in 2016, nearly a decade before the Obama plan. Is 2016 too early? Possibly, but given the resources, it can be done.

more-
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1701/1


http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1698/1

The company (Boeing)is working on a concept for an orbital crew capsule called the CST-100, supported by a NASA award and in partnership with Bigelow Aerospace, a company with plans for a series of orbital habitats. Last week Boeing announced an agreement with another NewSpace company, Space Adventures, to market seats on CST-100 missions. While these initiatives demonstrate Boeing’s interest in this emerging market, they may be just as important for shoring up support for one key element of NASA’s planned new direction in human spaceflight.

snip

“We believe that we will be able to bring the spaceflight experience to a greater number of people than we would have before,” Anderson added. Over time, he said, the market would grow to a “very significant” size, helping amortize the operational costs of such flights and thus giving NASA a better deal than if the flights were operated by or solely for the government.

Boeing 'cutting metal' on new spaceship
http://www.ocregister.com/news/boeing-260847-capsule-space.html

Space tourism: Virgin Galactic to offer commercial space travel within 18 months
http://www.helium.com/items/1968323-virgin-galactic-will-fly-in-18-months

In September 2010, Virgin Atlantic announced its intention to begin redeeming tickets on commercial space flights within the next 18 months - roughly, by some time in early 2012. Many passionate watchers of manned space travel have been waiting in excitement for years for commercial flights to become available, and now - for those with sufficient cash - it seems the dream is finally coming true.


In New Space Race, Enter the Entrepreneurs
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/science/space/08space.html?_r=1

snip-
If this business plan unfolds as it is written — the company has two fully inflated test modules in orbit already — Bigelow will be buying 15 to 20 rocket launchings in 2017 and in each year after, providing ample business for the private companies that the Obama administration would like to finance for the transportation of astronauts into orbit — the so-called commercial crew initiative.

President Obama’s budget proposal for 2011 calls for investing $6 billion over five years for probably two or more companies to develop spacecraft capable of carrying people into space. Then, instead of operating its own systems, like the space shuttles, NASA would buy rides for its astronauts on these commercial space taxis.

“This represents the entrance of the entrepreneurial mind-set into a field that is poised for rapid growth and new jobs,” Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said in February. “And NASA will be driving competition, opening new markets and access to space and catalyzing the potential of American industry.”

Space Shuttle Replacement Pt 1: Dragons take to flight
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/11/821969/-Space-Shuttle-Replacement-Pt-1:-Dragons-take-to-flight
Space Shuttle Replacements Pt 2: Birds in Space
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/20/838983/-Space-Shuttle-Replacements-Pt-2:-Birds-in-Space
Space Shuttle Replacement Pt 3: Weight-loss for Spacecrafts
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/2/21/839073/-Space-Shuttle-Replacement-Pt-3:-Weight-loss-for-Spacecrafts-
Space Shuttle Replacement Pt 4: Chasing Dreams & Mysteries
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/2/28/185721/928



Dreamchaseris a mini-shuttle, based on NASA's HL-20, which is based on the BOR-4 Soviet Spaceplane. Originally it was being pursued as a purely suborbital craft. However, SpaceDev decided that it could be scaled up to an orbital craft. The current plan is to launch it on the Atlas V 402 (I talked about this in a previous Space Shuttle Replacement diary). It can carry 7 people, to ISS (or to another space station), as well as supplies. While Dreamchaser was a runner up in the original COTS competition, it did not get either of the COTS contracts. However, SNC continued development on it, and also had an unfunded Space Act Agreement, with NASA, for developing the Dreamchaser.



NASA's Constellation Hallucination and the Congressional Money Drug
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-tumlinson/the-constellation-halluci_b_708459.html


Multilateral Space-based Solar Energy Program Led by India, US Proposed
http://cleantechnica.com/2010/09/18/multilateral-space-based-solar-energy-program-led-by-india-us-proposed/


Watch the skies.

[flpab]

16. yea but...

It does not help all those guys getting laid off today and my husband for the next lay off. It is bleak for many out there and the county is going to be in a huge depression.

[joshcryer]

21. SpaceX is hiring, have your husband submit a resume asap.

It should've been done 6-10 months ago, but yeah.

[Trajan]

24. SpaceX will hire you ....

But not if you have too much experience ....

I know this for a fact ....

[joshcryer]

20. Exactly, this is opportunity, not folly, the only thing I didn't like was the Nelson Rocket.

And the fact that COTS got gutted big time (it was originally going to be 7 billion, now it's just 2 billion or so). There could have been tens of thousands of more jobs created if COTS was funded at Obama's original proposal because it would have ignited a new space industry.

[LawnKorn]

11. A Government with vision would see this as an opportunity for research in clean, renewable energy

NASA is an established, reputable, and successful Government organization. It has a proven track record of conducting research and development into new and complex technical endeavors. It has the established infrastructure and corporate knowledge base to prevail on the world scene in any chosen field.

It is a travesty to allow NASA to lose 1200 employees, and erode our technical base when there is a dramatic need for alternative energy sources. Additional funding to NASA that is directed exclusively to clean energy production would both work to solve the problem of global warming and put Americans back to work building production systems.

[kentauros]

17. They're already working on green design:

Green Design and Manufacturing

But more money would certainly be appreciated :)

[Haole Girl]

22. K & R for the great men and women at KSC & Patrick. nt

[RoccoR5955]

25. NASA's budget is less than a buck a week per person.

I think that we can afford at least twice that, and still take care of all the other problems that face us. We just have to find a way to de-fund the military/police budgets, which have gotten way out of hand.
NASA provides us with so much for so little, each time that they cut their budget, a little bit of me dies.

[Vidar]

26. Another triumph for Obama.

[RobinA]

27. Oh Good

rocket scientists on unemployment. This just gets better and better.