I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you, that politics is being played by NASA, by scaring contractor workers (and local businesses that rely on them) into lobbying Congress and Presidential to increase NASA's budget and "save our phony baloney jobs." ;)
Posted on 04/01/2008 1:38:47 PM PDT by RDTF
NASA Says Thousands Could Lose Jobs After Shuttle Program Ends
MIAMI (AP) -- More than 8,000 NASA contractor jobs in the nation's manned space program could be eliminated after the space shuttle program is shut down in 2010, the agency said Tuesday. The number of civil servants is expected to remain roughly the same, but dramatic job cuts are possible among private contractors as NASA transitions to the Constellation program, which is developing the next-generation vehicle and rockets to go to the moon and later to Mars.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at biz.yahoo.com ...
“The number of civil servants is expected to remain roughly the same, but dramatic job cuts are possible among private contractors as NASA transitions to the Constellation program, which is developing the next-generation vehicle and rockets to go to the moon and later to Mars.”
Um, so wouldn’t that mean job pickups to support the new program?
Not really. The space shuttle with it's insanely high maintenance requirements is essentially a government jobs program.
Once it is gone and replaced with a single-use launch system most of those jobs won't be required.
Good,
Give half that money to Burt Rutan and get ten times more accomplished.
They could start with the diaper-packing, disguise-wearing, crazy kidnapping lady.
Yep. The program is shutting down until after the next Presidential term. At least. It’s over. It’s actually been over for close to forty years.
The Ares rocket replacement for the shuttle is having some severe development problems, which are very worrisome. Instead of using existing and proven Atlas or Delta heavy launch vehicles for future manned launches, NASA chose to maintain the shuttle workforce by going with a shuttle variant. It is turing out to be underpowered and have vibration problems, a lemon in the making. Just like in the case of the shuttle, all our eggs are being put into this one basket, repeating the decision flaw that recurs over and over in our space program.
A good place to start is the Goddard Institute for Space Studies and their dangerously deranged director, James Hansen.
"In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA..."
Hey NASA! How about you concentrate on building and launching rockets, OK? You don't see the National Endowment for the Arts planning a manned mission to the moon, do you? Sheesh, NASA need to be scrapped and started up again; it's too old and fat.
“Give half that money to Burt Rutan and get ten times more accomplished.”
I doubt it. He’s certainly a pioneer but he’s far from having a repeatable launch system. Doing that requires a lot more than being a visionary.
Amazing.
Wouldn't you think that the number of civil servants would also go down? Most of them are contract monitors, not workers, so why do they need all of them when the contractors are gone?
Guess you just can't fire a government employee. The economy goes to hell; the government revenue falls of; but the civil service continues with annual salary increases, medical care, and a cushy retirement.
How about giving us all government jobs, or hire illegals to do the work of the government employees. We'd save enough to put men back on the moon. The President thinks all the illegals are wonderful, so why not hire them at NASA? $10/hr, no benefits, no health care - big savings, No?
Since its primary purpose was to score political points against the Soviet Union, once that motivation disappeared there hasn't really been a guiding principle behind NASA's activities.
A younger, hungrier nation will make the next advances in space - not one of the large welfare states.
Not true,
Out in the desert one of his little companies is busy building several reuseables in conjunction with Richard Branson.
A neighbor son is doing much of the composite work on the capsules as we speak.
Oh...”NASA” is some sort of a science project? And here I was all these years thinking it was just welfare for nerds(???)
Anti-Liberal Moonbat Sarcasm TorpedoTM ARMED. FIRE!!
Re-usable?
But we only have to launch Hillary (or Ted Kennedy, or John Kerry) once.
I didn't know we planned on bringing them back!
Cheers!
I'm shocked, shocked, I tell you, that politics is being played by NASA, by scaring contractor workers (and local businesses that rely on them) into lobbying Congress and Presidential to increase NASA's budget and "save our phony baloney jobs." ;)
I pictured a 5 or 6 year old as I read that.
after the space shuttle program is shut down in 2010... The number of civil servants is expected to remain roughly the same"...so they fired the watchman."
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