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April 1, 2012 6:52 PM

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Space Coast: Through the lens of 60 Minutes

By: 60 Minutes Overtime Staff
Topics: Overtime Original

This week on 60 Minutes, Scott Pelley reported on the closing of NASA's space shuttle program, and the economic suffering in Brevard County, Florida, home to the Kennedy Space Center. Chris Albert, one of the 60 Minutes cameramen assigned to cover the story, roamed the area with his Canon 5D in hand, trying to capture the heart of the story in pictures. We're featuring Chris' work this week as the first in a series of Overtime videos about the filming of 60 Minutes:

The producer said "Go out there, and see what you can see. Try to show what's happened to the people who live here." I spent two days driving around with my camera.

If you're a photographer arriving in a foreign country and you want to show the beauty of the place, the first thing you do is stop at a shop and look at postcards. The local photographers who shoot those know where to go. Sometimes I buy the postcards and say to my driver, "Take me to this place." But if you're in a place like this, there are no postcards of economic destruction. So, you've got to get local people to guide you. You start filming and sometimes they stop to watch you. That's how you start talking to people and find out what's really happening in a place.

I was photographing a motel and I saw a moving truck. I said, "What are you doing?" and the woman said, "I'm leaving. This area's dead." Patches of it were post-apocalyptic. You saw places completely boarded up, and nature was reclaiming them. Grasses were growing up through the concrete everywhere. It's only been a year or so since NASA's space shuttle program was canceled, but it was amazing the damage that had been done already. It looked like these places had been abandoned for years.

For most people I spoke to, they viewed the space industry as a form of patriotism. They told me, If your country isn't out in the lead in terms of space, who are you? They saw it as a matter of national pride. I used these very slow dolly shots where the camera is moving away from the subject, as if to say, "This is the end."

-- Chris Albert, 60 Minutes cameraman, as told to "60 Minutes Overtime"

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by 23ralphy April 22, 2012 7:56 PM EDT: Dear 60 Minutes :
Why dont you people do a follow-up to your cape canervral story and show the real cost in lives and to the econmy when the republicians pulled the plug on our space program the total number of people on welfare and unemployment from all the people that lost there jobs at the cape and trickle-down jobs and dont forget the cost to the us goverment to buy a ride on a russian spaceship this story made my blood boil and i was totally ashamed of my country for letting this happen.; Reply to this comment


by MayorTulley April 7, 2012 9:37 PM EDT: On Sunday April 1, I watched your presentation on Florida's Space Coast and the end of the Space Shuttle program with great interest. While I understood your honesty regarding the loss of jobs, I believe you overlooked all the good things that are currently happening in our area. I could go on at length regarding new investment, renewed outside interest, newly restored buildings and the hard work of many citizens and local organizations.

Despite your portrayal, the Space coast is most definitely not down for the count. Quite to the contrary, we are a Phoenix rising and we will come out of this period better and stronger than ever. To really understand where we are headed, I suggest you visit www.greatertitusville.com, and please come back to our community for an opportunity to see and tell the rest of the story. We are building a new Space Coast and I believe your viewers should see how this community is reacting positively to that challenge.

Jim Tulley
Mayor of Titusville, FL; Reply to this comment


by spacecoastresident April 3, 2012 6:21 PM EDT: Titusville, Fl has looked like this for many years. The local government is more to blame for its condition than the Space Center. This area of the county has never provided decent jobs or recreation. They figured they had the Space Center and its people and needed nothing else. Take a look at 95 and see everyone travelling to Melbourne for work. As far as the empty homes and overgrown weeds, that happened with the housing bust. During the housing boom, an outrageous amount of homes were built in this county and were being bought up by out of state investors or those using the equity in their out of state homes to purchase second homes down here. When the housing market collapsed, these homes got dumped. The fault lies now with the banks who are not forced to take care of them. More people in this county lost their jobs during the housing bust than the total that were lost at the Space Center. They didn't make a big deal about those layoffs. The county had over two years to prepare for the Space Center layoffs. Without a doubt, the Space Center is important for the whole country, but this county didn't learn the first time and continued to rely on it instead of seeking other lucrative industries. And it probably will never change.; Reply to this comment


by K_a_r_p_y April 3, 2012 5:43 PM EDT: The roar of the main engines used to shake the house and threaten the china. The power could ripple the water in the backyard canal, and it would reverberate in the chest. The sound was magnificent, exhilarating and seemed tangible, like you could touch it. Night launches were like watching the Sun leave earth. As engines cleared the roof lines of the homes behind us, it would grow long shadows of the trees and homes that grew shorter as the graceful monster fought for altitude, leaning into it's trajectory. Tipsy space program wives whose husbands manipulated controls and monitored data streams at the Cape during launch would sometimes cheer at the beginning. We teenyboppers did not. I didn't anyway. (I was afraid it was bad luck for the men riding in that tiny cone on top. Better to cheer at Splashdown.) Dad was there in Launch Control, an electrical engineer for North American Rockwell, stationed in over watch of a group of men working at their consoles near Walter Cronkite's glass booth. Sometimes he would come home later, happy and exhausted. Sometimes he stayed until splashdown, like during Apollo 13. I am very proud of him and his generation. I don't remember if Mom cheered as the gleaming tower, muscular and determined, continued its irresistible, roaring ascent. It seemed somehow alive, intelligent, focused and would not be denied. At about two and half minutes and after 5 million gallons of fuel had burned through the nozzles, there was brief pause, then Bam! The empty Stage One would fall away as S2 ignited and assumed the battle for altitude. Later, when the roar gradually dissipated and the vehicle became a bright star moving quickly away, the world would turn quiet. Something had changed. People seemed stunned, lost in thought, some like they had been holding their breath the whole time. After a bit they would begin talking again. Quietly, hesitant at first. Things were different now. Mankind was leaving Earth for another world. Americans! I often ponder what it was like for those incredible men who earned the right to ride that magnificent power into orbit, riding that first leg of their long and perilous journey into history.
What a shame Obama has destroyed this for America, and that he is nowhere near finished with his destruction. People like Barbara above will enable him to finish off every hint of American exceptionalism, which he clearly despises.; Reply to this comment


by Novel59 April 3, 2012 7:39 AM EDT: It was time for the Shuttle to be retired. President Bush made the mistake of not scheduling a vehicle to replace it within a year of it's retirement instead of 3 to 4 years. President Obama made a mistake allowing the Constellation program to be cancelled instead of modifying it for the expectations of commercial space flight. All he had to do was give up Aries I in favor of companies like Space X and continue building the non-man rated Aries V and the systems for going back to the moon, still our best choice for destinations. But as is typical in Washington you take a sledge hammer to an egg. NASA is at the mercy of would be Rocket Scientists in Washington and continue to suffer with programs lost not because of lack of dedication by its employees and contractors but lack of vision from the government after 5 decades. Nothing will ever be accomplished by the US in space again if this pattern continues.; Reply to this comment


by 007paul100 April 2, 2012 11:36 PM EDT: Now is the time to look for new endeavors here on earth. In my opinion
we need a 10 year program to create a transportation system for automobiles that run on electricity. A great start is at this website.
I have no financial interest in it, I just find it a great idea that can create jobs, clean air and no more fulling up at ridiculous prices. WWW.BetterPlace.com This is a Switch and go system. Check it out, it will blow your mind.; Reply to this comment


by April 2, 2012 7:27 PM EDT: Your whole segment looked like it was aimed at blaming President Obama for the loss of these jobs. While I am sympathetic and feel for the people that lost jobs, you should have put more emphasis on the programs that Obama had asked Congress to approve in order to replace the NASA programs. You skimmed through that quite easily and failed to highlight the loss of jobs due to the fact that this Congress is aimed at making Obama a one term President and doing everything they can to block every move he makes. Put the blame where it belongs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Do a segment that shows the roadblocks this President has had to endure by the people in this Congress that have done everything they could to make the country fail by not helping President Obama.
Do a segment on what Obama inherited and what he has done to try to help the country recover from the mess that was left for him!; Reply to this comment


by Firebird1964 April 2, 2012 3:22 PM EDT: The space shuttle program would be alive and well if we weren't fighting so many wars, killing the value of the dollar and spending billions on foreign aid, including Israel, which gets $3 billion annually, which, coincidentally, is what was saved by cutting NASA.; Reply to this comment

by R-is-for-Rocket April 2, 2012 2:17 PM EDT

Former NASA and NASA Contractor employees struggling after 25 or 30 years of employment? An employee laid off after 29 years still raising a 10 year old who whines for Mc Donald's? Where was the foresight and planning knowing the shuttle would shut down and constellation program was dead in 2009. The last 2 flight were congressional "gifts" to the space coast as they were not originally planned. Yes, a 100 million is a lot per launch for US Astronaut on a Russian Spacecraft, but 3 billion a year for 2, maybe 3 shuttle launches annually was an unbearable cost to prop up an aging and inefficient infastructure.

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by Beaker3231 April 2, 2012 8:05 PM EDT: First of all, lets talk money. 500 Million per Shuttle flight on average. Now take that 500 million and divide that by 7 crew members from different countries. Thats 71.42 million per seat. Now add in the fact that the Orbiters have around 30 tons of cargo capacity uphill and around 15 to 20 tons to return safely to earth.
Hmmmmm, 65 million per seat in a Soyuz capsule, maximum 3 seats. No cargo capacity, UP OR DOWN. You do the math. Shuttle retirement was a huge mistake. Obama had the power to change that, but chose not to.


by cm1701 April 2, 2012 10:44 PM EDT: I agree. It wasn't just the cost per launch, it was the infrastructure/support system- the planning for future tanks, future SRB's etc. It was stopped after just about all that could have been used was used, and as a Stimulus gift another mission was added with a "found" tank.
We won't be out of the Manned Space Business for long- (remember there was that '75 to '81 hiatus) And when we're back- we'll be more efficient and safer. I loved the Shuttle as much as anyone. I had hoped at one time that the x-33/Venture Star would be it's natural follow on. Sadly, the time for a full SSTO may not yet be right. But, we can still develop the tech(hopefully with some money we are saving from the correct decision to cancel this 70's era shuttle system- (A system, by the way, designed to meet the needs of Air Force and Nasa, and met neither very well)


by cm1701 April 2, 2012 11:18 AM EDT: I agree with many of the comments above regarding the incomplete nature of the segment. Just a bit ago, 60 minutes ran a piece about Space X, the most likely US based organization to take Astronauts back to Space. Later this month Space X will take an unmanned capsule up the Station- the same size/configuration as the one which will take humans back up there.

The idea from last night's piece that we are simply laying off thousands while abandoning Space is fallacious and just bad reporting; especially given the previous report on the same program.

As advanced as it was it was built from NASA/Airforce requirement compromise and frankly- the shuttle was dangerous, with a 1 in 100 chance of mission failure.

As to our current lack of US launch capability- a similar human launch pause occurred between '75 and '81 as we transitioned from Apollo to Shuttle.

In Early 2004, 11 months after the Columbia tragedy, Bush did sponsor the Constellation shuttle replacement plan- but it was never properly funded, and realistically would not have gotten us the the ISS and beyond any faster than the current plan.

No one is ceding leadership in space.

I feel for the workers, I do - but in any change in tech, there is some (very painful!) dislocation- Look at Steel Towns, look at Detroit, look at Oil towns in the 80's, etc. No one "picked on" Brevard County workers- many of whom were well paid, and had known Shuttle was ending for 8+ years.

Space leadership in this century should mean getting there reliably, affordably, and often!, with the capability to go further, and learn more. Perhaps the programs should generate a technology spin-off or two to help the general economy.

We are afraid of industrial competitiveness with China? Space X can get to Space for ~70% of China's cost! Why aren't we more proud of THAT?

Space should no longer be a cold war program, or a jobs program. Lets re-train these workers, get them some health benefits- And lets focus on getting Boeing, Lockheed, etc more efficient so that they can compete with the small upstarts that are coming in this field. No need for massive layoffs in the enterprise is competitive and satisfies it customer(s) in the first place.

And 60 Minutes producers- next time- Do your homework. This piece was nothing but poorly researched pander. If you truly cared about Space leadership- instead of focusing on one unfortunate result of the policy changes- you could- and should have done better research and presented the "why".; Reply to this comment

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