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Twitter | Advertising | Archives | SupportKSC Job Loss Projections Drop, AviationWeek
"NASA Administrator Mike Griffin believes that contractor job cuts at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) following the planned end of the space shuttle program in 2010 will total 3,000-4,000, only about half of the worst-case scenario of cuts in the 6,000-7,000 range."
"The total Kennedy work force of both government and civil service personnel is currently about 14,000."
Isn't part of the reason for Constellation is to have a vehicle/system that doesn't require the army of technicians that shuttle does? Don't we want to downsize the workforce that is required to fly manned space missions?
First it was that they might have to lay off 6,000 to 7,000 employees, then it's 3,000 0r 4,000. If they keep looking, maybe they won't have to lay anyone off. Of course, we won't save any money.
There is a huge misconception that the lion's share of costs for the Shuttle are incurred at KSC in processing the Shuttle. In fact, the money spent at KSC is less than 15% of the cost of operating the Shuttle. JSC and MSFC is where the real savings are to be gained. JSC and MSFC get billions of dollars for Shuttle while KSC only gets several hundred million dollars. If you could process Ares I with 10 people at KSC, it would still cost $400 million per launch. Mark my words, the CEV will be more expensive than Shuttle to operate. The hardware is largely irrelevant. It's the people and facilities (mostly at JSC and MSFC) that comprise the fixed costs for the program whether you are launching or not. Remember folks, this is a government operation and there will be no cost savings in the new program.
4 Comments
I don't believe anyone can accurately predict how many jobs will be lost at KSC. I would say the answer is 3,000 to 7,000, the full range of the two estimates given. Who's going to pay for those who stay on? Constellation sure doesn't have the money to pay for it. The whole point of phasing out the Shuttle is to save money for use on Constellation. If you don't lay people off, you won't save any money. NASA could really save some cash by downsizing the astronaut office and getting rid of most of the 3 dozen or more T-38's they use as personal transports. Why do we need 150 astronauts anyway? We certainly won't need that many to fly 2 to 4 mission per year. We won't need any for 5+ years.