23-08-09 NASA's future depends on Obama

Significant job losses will come to Kennedy Space Center no matter what course President Barack Obama chooses for NASA after reviewing options from a blue-ribbon commission.An estimated 1,500 or more jobs likely will be lost,even if Obama decides to keep the shuttles flying through 2015.And U.S. astronauts won't fly beyond the International Space Station and Earth's orbit until the 2020s at best -- and possibly much later.Those are among the findings of a FLORIDA TODAY review of the options being forwarded to the president by the Human Space Flight Plans Committee.The study of dozens of hours of public testimony,hundreds of pages of reports and presentations,and the deliberations and statements of committee members shows:Under all but one of the options still on the table,the shuttle fleet would be retired as planned in 2011.The resulting job losses are estimated at 3,500 to 7,000 at KSC alone.That doesn't account for indirect job losses for area businesses that depend on a busy spaceport.Under every scenario,even those requiring Obama to invest billions of dollars more per year in NASA,American astronauts wouldn't venture beyond the space station and low Earth orbit before the end of the next decade.That includes NASA's current plan,which calls for a human moon mission by 2020.The panel said it's unlikely to happen until 2021 at best and maybe 2028.Almost all the options involve extending the use of the space station to 2020,possibly preserving a small number of payload-processing jobs at KSC.The majority of options -- and all of the ones the panel deemed feasible in its public sessions -- cancel the development of the Ares I crew launch vehicle in favor of a smaller version of the Ares V rocket,upgraded versions of existing Delta and Atlas rockets or a new rocket based more on the shuttle.All the options boost investment in privately run crew- and cargo-ferrying services.If developed,those services could mean increased jobs in payload processing and launch services,helping offset other losses.But the development of those systems and their economic impact here are a long way from being fully understood