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September 29, 2009
President Barack Obama is in for an earful from Florida elected officials and space industry leaders who promised Monday to launch an aggressive, coordinated campaign to limit the pain resulting from the space shuttle's retirement.
"Today more than ever, Florida needs to speak with one loud, unified voice," said Patricia Stratton, a United Space Alliance executive, during a forum at the Florida Solar Energy Center. "We can't hope Washington gets the message."
As Obama reviews options for the future of human spaceflight presented by an independent panel, officials want to steer him toward one that would reduce the roughly 7,000 Kennedy Space Center job losses now projected by local workforce officials.
That total doesn't include the impact to local businesses that provide services to those workers.
Local representatives have prepared for the potential crisis for years, but the urgency has never been greater, with only six more shuttle flights scheduled and the economy already in trouble.
"We are on the last play of the game, we got one shot left," said Mark Wilson, president and CEO of the Florida Chamber of Commerce.
More than 200 people who gathered in Cocoa on Monday pledged to work together on a variety of fronts, including:
Appeals to Obama to back up a campaign promise made in Titusville to close the minimum five-year gap in human launches between the last shuttle flight and first by the Ares I rocket.
"We will continue to help convince the president that he needs to step up and be a leader in space," said U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge.
A presidential panel's summary report says NASA will need at least another $3 billion annually to fund a viable space program.
"The battleground has shifted to Washington," said Marshall Heard, an economic development advisor who reviewed panel options that range from extending space shuttle flights to canceling the Ares I rocket.
Building a coalition of state and congressional representatives that spans beyond the Space Coast, acknowledging that 47 of 67 Florida counties
"The Florida delegation doesn't work together as well as it should," said Barney Bishop, president and CEO of Associated Industries of Florida, a business lobbyist in Tallahassee.
Attracting commercial space ventures and other high-tech interests to diversify the local economy beyond government launches.
"We cannot depend solely on NASA's space program," said Frank DiBello, the newly appointed president of Space Florida. "Diversification is the key to our space future."
KSC Director Bob Cabana said he is working with Space Florida to establish a research park on center property and partnering with Florida Power & Light on a solar power project.
Promoting space-friendly legislation. At least three state bills being introduced in Tallahassee next year would provide tax breaks to aerospace businesses launching rockets from Cape Canaveral, establishing research and development hubs in Florida or investing in advanced education for employees.
Making the case that human spaceflight is a national security issue, not just about local jobs. Until a new rocket is ready, NASA plans to rely on Russia for rides to the International Space Station after the shuttle stops flying.
Strengthening math and science education and bolstering university research programs.
No matter what, the leaders said, some local space jobs will be lost.
But they also saw cause for optimism that the outlook could improve.
"I have a sense here that there is actually a renewed energy and dedication to being unified, and recognition of the timeliness at the moment, that there is opportunity in a change in administration," U.S. Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, said after the meeting.
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