Houston Comes To Washington

I want obama to apologize when the layoffs begin. Soon, very soon. Unemployment is at 9.9% nationwide. Lots more people will soon share in the misery.

What exactly does Obama's decision on NASA plans have to do with the U.S. unemployment rate? The vast majority of the $18B NASA budget is salaries. So if it's not employing people in Florida, it's employing people somewhere else. Unless maybe Charlie Boldin is packing greenbacks in a mattress somewhere.

I guess lots more people will soon share in the misery of lots fewer others.

"The battle for human space flight is not over."

America STILL chooses to go to the Moon Mr. Obama!

The exploration spirit of this nation is fighting back.

It is a good thing to see citizens stand up to express there feelings to our elected officials...And we need to keep the American HSF program going...Let's all get involved and flood our representatives with our views.....Or vote them out in November!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Then I want you to apologize to my generation for turning NASA into a Self-Entitled Jobs Program.

The workers had 6 years to get their act together, but no, they think they deserve a paycheck even if they are no longer needed.

NASA needs to ALWAYS move forward, that WILL include a smaller workforce as technology improves with NASA as the sole provider of access to space, and as missions go farther from Earth, and less frequent.

NASA needs to have funding to upgrade their laboratories from 80's technology, and the chance to upgrade KSC from being capable of launching once every 24 hours to once every hour, and accommodate Commercial launching.

They cannot do that when Constellation is sucking up budget from other programs within NASA, and a generation of NASA employees think they're entitled to something.

For the record, I'm getting laid off too, and I look forward to the opportunity to contribute elsewhere within NASA once my role at KSC is no longer needed, and yes, there will be ways to contribute for those willing to adapt.

Which, unfortunately, too many people are unwilling after riding this gravy train for two or more decades.

Too bad. NASA succeeds when it is allowed to move forward, and my generation has no interest in watching the generation that came before us hold it back.

~HotShotX

"The workers had 6 years to get their act together, but no, they think they deserve a paycheck even if they are no longer needed."

Although most of the comments here are just from space cadets with little perspective on political reality, this particular comment is misdirected anger.

The workers, at KSC for example, didn't have six years to get their act together, but took six years giving their commitment and hard work to a plan given to them that turned out to be simply faulty. That they deserve a paycheck is because a previous generation of leaders told them they deserved a paycheck for doing this hard work. I can't fault them for that.

That isn't going to get their jobs back, but let's point the finger where it should be pointed. At a White House that created a space program it refused to follow up on, and a NASA administrator who torqued that space program into something unaffordable.

I feel badly for folks who are going to lose their jobs (though as I said above, those jobs will simply go elsewhere), but it isn't their fault. The lesson here for human space flight workers is that your commitment and hard work has to be predicated on a plan that makes sense. Unfortunately, that doesn't exactly incentivize future generations of human space flight workers. The next space program is going to suffer from the well learned skepticism of those that are being fired from this one.

"The workers, at KSC for example, didn't have six years to get their act together, but took six years giving their commitment and hard work to a plan given to them that turned out to be simply faulty."

Sorry, but I'm not buying that. Everyone knew that:
# of Constellation Jobs

Everyone knew layoffs were coming, and while I can certainly appreciate those who wish to serve the program until its conclusion, everyone should be accepting responsibility for themselves, and making those tough decisions ahead of time. It's called long-term planning.

As for anger, I'm angry because every time I've heard a worker or a politician open their mouth about the future of spaceflight, the first word that comes out is "Jobs".

NASA is NOT about JOBS. Period. It's about furthering humanity's presence both on this planet and in space, and as technology advances, the number of people required to pursue this goal will lessen.

Even more disgusting to me are the rallies and petitions that equate "Saving Space" with "Saving Jobs/Constellation", the political fear-mongering over the Chinese Space Program and the Russians holding astronauts hostage, and the mindset that unless we are putting on a big light show for the public by launching an HLV asap, then we are killing HSF.

I'm sick of the nonsense. I've seen very little discussion from the public/politicians on the actual details of the FY2011 plan, and far too much on:

How many jobs will we lose?
Where will these jobs be lost?
How can we get more jobs?
Will MY district lose jobs?
You can't do that, my district will lose jobs!

NASA. IS. NOT. A. JOBS. PROGRAM.

So yeah, when I hear a comment like what Gary01 initially posted, I get a little annoyed.

~HotShotX

Hello Harris, approximately 36,000 persons work on Constellation, civil servants and contractors. Not all will loose their jobs but a significant number will, thus adding to the nations unemployment lines. To the youngster who thinks this is a generational dilemna. I feel sorry for your job loss just as I feel for the, lets say, more mature folks who will also lose their jobs. For me, I have no dog in the hunt. I am retired and happy. But I am extremely disappointed in obama. He claims to care for peoples jobs but than turns around and eliminates thousands. And NASA is not the only dog in his hunt. There are others. Good luck.

Houston will be a big net loser on jobs becaue the Shuttle program is ending and this administration has killed what was to be its successor. A small part of JSC will continue to have a function so long as ISS continues and we can negotiate a ride from the Russions. Without a shuttle-like capability to support the station, I doubt that ISS is viable to 2020. If anything big and important fails, it will have to be abandoned (but maybe we will get lucky). When ever it happens, the end of station is almost certainly the end of US human space flight. The now touted but unfocused "technology development" for possible future use will itself be abandoned within a few years; it will be characterized as a too-expensive "jobs" program and be sacrificed in coming budget battles.

The primary issue is not jobs (important as they are to those affected - me included), but our nation's technological capability. Mainstream science is expensive and requires long-term commitment. Once a major area of investigation is abandoned, it is not going to be politically realistic to reconstitute it at a later date. Consider what happened with high energy physics: The Clinton administration killed the Super Collider Program in the early 90's, and that effectively ended particle physics research in the US. Today the meaningful work is done at CERN. That is the pattern that the space program is likely to follow.

Hello Harris, approximately 36,000 persons work on Constellation, civil servants and contractors.

if that is accurate then that is one reason the program is ending...to many people doing not a lot of value

Robert G. Oler

Hopefully there are adults in the room when this guy is talking to Congressional members. Is this how illogical the pro-Constellation crowd has become or is it just this guy ? Does this Mitchell guy realize we were depending on Russia BEFORE Obama's plan came out ? And what exactly is the national security issue ?......Seems like there wasn't one before February 1.

"After speaking with politicians, Mitchell is not convinced Congress will approve Obama’s 2011 budget as proposed, but he does not know what changes Congress would make, Mitchell said.

“Most understand the importance of Americans in space,” Mitchell said. “It’s a national security issue if we’re relying on other countries’ vehicles to get to space.”

If all 36,000 people end up losing their jobs because of CxP cancelation, and another 72,000 lose their jobs because of the first 36,000, then US unemployment will rise from 9.9% to 10%. Disastrous for those 108,000 people, I know; but a drop in the bucket for the country.

To avoid this we need to extend a promise to spend more than $100B over a decade or two, on something that doesn't meet this country's needs, and meanwhile smothers other efforts? Are we only permitted to change plans and lay groundwork when the economy is already booming? Hmmm... or when a Republican does it? (Remember those huge budget increases Bush gave to NASA right after the VSE? ;-)

"a drop in the bucket for the country"

How does the 36,000 figure into the US highly skilled workforce? I suspect that the increase in jobless rate among high skilled workers would be significantly higher. The US loses a significant technological advantage over other countries.