April 01, 2008

NASA Layoffs Coming

Not good news for the local community, where the main drag is NASA Parkway and many employers are somehow related to Johnson Space Center.

As many as 2,300 people, most of them contractors, could lose their jobs at Johnson Space Center as the shuttle fleet nears retirement in two years, NASA officials predicted Tuesday.

In the first report of its kind to Congress about the expected drawdown in the space agency's work force, the officials said the reductions would come mostly from the ranks of contractors. The number of permanent civil servants would essentially remain flat.

The officials did not predict the timing of the cuts across the space agency but said that they may begin near the end of the current fiscal year, which ends in September. Between 5,800 and 7,300 workers throughout the agency would lose their jobs over the next three years.

The losses at the space agency's Clear Lake complex could amount to as few as 400 jobs through 2011 if work quickly picks up on the Constellation program, the initiative to build a successor to the shuttle for missions to the moon and Mars. That would depend on an increase in congressional funding and support by the next president.

Of course, this number does not include the possibility of retirements offsetting some of the job losses.

This really is a concern around here. Many friends from church, as well as at least one local political blogger, are NASA employees. I've got friends working on the Constellation program, helping to prepare the next generation spacecraft. Moving the Ares program to the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville could mean transfers for some of them, assuming their positions are not eliminated. Will they be back, or will the jobs permanently shift to Alabama?

But there will be AT LEAST a five-year gap in manned space flight following the shuttle's retirement. I agree with Nick Lampson on this one. We need to shorten that gap -- both for economic reasons and for scientific ones.

Posted by: Greg at 10:26 PM | Comments (7) | Add Comment
Post contains 341 words, total size 2 kb.

1 This always happens when Dems control the purse-strings. It never fails. SJR The Pink Flamingo

Posted by: SJ Reidhead at Wed Apr 2 07:56:40 2008 (/zbL+)

2 And KSC is expecting a downturn, as well.

Posted by: Fox2! at Wed Apr 2 16:06:35 2008 (mS51q)

3

So what!  I have a friend that works out there and tells me of all the waste!  The salaries are too high and who needs Nasa anyhow?  Take the money and fix the intrastructure and Lord knows we need to cut whereever we can.   Waste waste waste that is all that NASA offers the tax payers.

Andrew  Boynton Bch  (formally of Merritt Isl)

 

Posted by: Thomas Reed at Wed Apr 16 04:03:49 2008 (9B4Cs)

4 Aside from a certain liberal blogging posting during the work day, I'm not aware of much waste at NASA. And since we've gotten such a great return from NASA in terms of technology, it is one luxury I'm supportive of -- though privatization would be good, too.

Posted by: Rhymes Wih Right at Wed Apr 16 13:07:14 2008 (3/dOV)

5 There is TONS of waste at NASA. I've worked there 20 years, work hard, and know a few others who do, but not many. They will pay $3000 to replace a floor tile, they never fire incompetent civil servants who get paid exorbitant pay, and continue to get the pay if they retire and come back frail and in a walker barely able to stay awake. Most of these workers sit around and chat all day long, eat, go to the gym, jog, and play basketball on site during work hours, rehash the same projects for 10 years never really making any progress with nothing to show for it. Most of the projects and people are a complete waste of money!

Posted by: JB Kuzmahl at Mon Jan 26 10:05:06 2009 (uCFvG)

6 There is TONS of waste at NASA. I've worked there 20 years, work hard, and know a few others who do, but not many. They will pay $3000 to replace a floor tile, they never fire incompetent civil servants who get paid exorbitant pay, and continue to get the pay if they retire and come back frail and in a walker barely able to stay awake. Most of these workers sit around and chat all day long, eat, go to the gym, jog, and play basketball on site during work hours, rehash the same projects for 10 years never really making any progress with nothing to show for it. Most of the projects and people are a completely waste of money!

Posted by: JB Kuzmahl at Mon Jan 26 10:06:56 2009 (uCFvG)

7 There is TONS of waste at NASA! I've worked there 20 years, work hard, and know a few others who do, but not many. They will pay $3000 to replace a floor tile, they never fire incompetent civil servants who get paid exorbitant pay, and continue to get the high retirement pay plus collect another salary if they retire and come back PT frail and in a walker barely able to stay awake. Most of these workers sit around and chat all day long, eat, go to the gym, jog, and play basketball on site during work hours, rehash the same projects for 10 years never really making any progress with nothing to show for it. Most of the projects and people are a completely waste of money!

Posted by: JB Kuzmahl at Mon Jan 26 10:09:29 2009 (uCFvG)

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