On April 15, President Barack Obama will visit Florida to host a White House Conference on the Administration’s new vision for America’s future in space, the White House said.
Obama, along with top officials and other space leaders will discuss the new course the Administration is charting for NASA and the future of U.S. leadership in human space flight.
The Conference comes two months after Governor Crist announced new legislation to ensure the state’s continued leadership in spaceflight and exploration and against the backdrop of an estimated 10,000 jobs likely to be lost owing to the shuttering of NASA’s Constellation program.
There is much anxiety on the part of thousands of NASA engineers and technicians who fear job loses and displacement, on account of the scrapping of the Constellation and Ares program for the commercialization of space flights. Many observers have suggested that the Space Coast and surrounding areas, including Orlando could be severaly impacted as a result.
U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Orlando), appeared to echo this sentiment when he grilled NASA Chief Charles Bolden in a hearing before the House Science and Technology Committee earlier this month. Grayson expressed much exasperation after not getting clear answers from Bolden as to why, even though NASA had accepted the “Flexible Path” recommendation of the Augustine Report, which entailed continuation of the Constellation program, it was not been followed.
Meanwhile, a statement released from the White House stated that Obama’s ambitious plan for NASA proposes to set the agency on a reinvigorated path of space exploration.
An additional $1.9 billion has been earmarked for investing in NASA over five years to ensure a faster pace of rocket launches out of Florida as NASA tests new technologies, launches robotic precursor missions and resupplies the International Space Station, the statement said. It noted too, that the new plan will energize a new commercial crew transportation industry that could create as many as 1,700 new jobs in Florida.
Notwithstanding the anticipated new jobs, thousands of engineers and technicians at the Kennedy Space Center could find themselves jobless if alternative employment is not found to re-absorb these skilled workers.
It is not yet known where the White House Conference would be held.
