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Obama’s moon program a threat to jobs
by Ishita Sood - February 3, 2010 - comments
NASA's chief Charles Bolden, who manages the agency’s missions and goals said, “To people who are working on these programs, this is like a death in the family."
New York, February 3 -- President Barack Obama's recent decision to include private companies for NASA space missions has created more uproar than before, particularly in Huntsville, Alabama. According to recent reports, scientists feel the program will curb jobs that depend on “lunar trips.”
With the new proposal from President Obama, people who are employed in and around space institutes are said to be in trouble.
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, which is located in Huntsville, employs more than 2,500 people for the $100 billion moon project called Constellation.
The Constellation program, first proposed by former President George W. Bush after disaster of space shuttle Columbia, includes construction of two types of rockets along with a crew capsule.
Imminent loss of jobs
However, now due to recent strategy from the White House, the project has to be scrapped, resulting in imminent job losses.
Scott Darpel, a contractor working on part of the Constellation project in Cleveland, said he was “reasonably sure” of having a job for months. But he's concerned about the “psychological affects”.
Brenda Mulberry, who owns a store which sells souvenirs outside Kennedy Space Center said, “They just barely started the program and people were hanging on with the shuttle ending that they would have something to do. We're just worried about a mass exodus out of this area.”
Many even believe that the program can crush America's spaceflight psyche.
“People here care about going to the moon. The last thing they want to do is have our astronauts become cargo on some company's space ship,” said Dale Jackson, host of a morning radio show WVNN in Huntsville, which is nicknamed "Rocket City."
Obama’s program ‘misplaced priorities’
Obama’s current decision has been criticized by many others who feel that the president “misplaced priorities” by going with a program “years in the future and highly uncertain.”
“It was one of the best investments the country could have made in terms of strengthening our space program and getting people back to work,” said Stephen Moret, head of state economic development agency of Louisiana.
Meanwhile, NASA Chief Charles Bolden, who manages the agency’s missions and goals said, “To people who are working on these programs, this is like a death in the family.”
Bolden, who choked many times while talking, also added that everyone needs time to grieve.