Comments on: High joblessness in the home of U.S. space flight
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- After having read the article and seen the Space Coast story, I would like to let all know that ProNet Career Resources is here to help. You are welcome to email a resume for a free review to hra246@gmail.com...we can be found on LinkedIn as a group and on the internet at www.pronetcareerresources.org We are here to help. Howie
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- I cried all during the story. Obama came in 2008 and promised we would lose our jobs.
NOT a single space worker ever felt this was just a job. We were proud and the cameraderie we had was real - it took all of us working together to launch our vehicles.
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME ANYONE HAS CARED ENOUGH to tell our story - thank you.
The total of unemployed including the trickle-downs is 23,400 here in Brevard and our purported unemployment of almost 11% is, in reality closer to 15-16%.
I have many friends who have lost their homes and everything they had and more who are on the brink of throwing themselves off the bridges.
As a nation - we are failures in the space program now - there is no legacy. - Reply to this comment
- Sorry, Mr. Pelley, but you got some things wrong in this segment and you misled your viewers in much of the rest.
Let's start with your implication that Obama broke his promise to help with jobs here in the Space Coast.
The fact is that in April 2010 Obama directed the creation of a Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development. Its objective was to create "an interagency action plan to facilitate economic development strategies and plans along the Space Coast and to provide training and other opportunities for affected aerospace workers so they are equipped to contribute to new developments in America's space program and related industries."
The report was issued on August 15, 2010. The U.S. Commerce Department's Economic Development Administration (EDA) issued a request for applications from entities interested in funding to create jobs in the Space Coast.
Congress, however, failed to provide the funding for this $35 million program. When the GOP took over the House in January 2011, they blocked the funding so it died.
You said Obama cancelled Constellation, but you didn't say why.
Constellation was years behind schedule and billions over budget. It received a number of bad audits from the independent Government Accountability Office. The last audit said that Constellation "lacked a sound business case."
Ares I was the rocket being designed under Constellation that was to provide crew access to the International Space Station. It had only one test flight after years of design and billions spent. The first Ares I crew flight wasn't going to be until 2017.
But here's the key fact you failed to disclose -- Ares I was going to be funded by decommissioning the ISS in 2015. In short, the Ares I was being built to go to a place that would no longer exist when it was finally ready to launch.
You also failed to tell your viewers that President Bush cancelled the Shuttle in January 2004, and you failed to tell them why. The Shuttle was cancelled because the Columbia Accident Investigation Board concluded that the Shuttle was "a complex and risky system," to use their own words. Bush announced that the Shuttle would fly only to finish the ISS, and then it would be retired. Congress agreed, so in 2004 the clock started on ending the Shuttle and replacing it with something else.
In the very first Senate hearing on January 28, 2004, then-NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said there would be a minimum four-year gap after the end of Shuttle, during which time we'd rely on Russia. So that decision was made eight years ago, and it was approved by Congress.
Finally, regarding the Shuttles bar ... At one time, it had all Shuttle memorabilia, but the owner removed much of it and replaced it with a sports motif. The service was terrible and the food was mediocre. My wife and I stopped going there because it sometimes took an hour to have our meals delivered to the table. The King's Duck Inn, two miles down the road, does extremely well and is packed even on weeknights.
And as for the video you showed of Miracle City Mall in Titusville, that's been a derelict since the 1970s after Apollo ended. You failed to mention that the Titusville city council has approved a revitalization program for Miracle City Mall that should draw back shoppers. Had they done so years ago, it wouldn't be a ghost town today.
Mr. Pelley, I'm very disappointed with this piece because you did so well with the SpaceX segment. I hope you run a segment where you explain the facts to your viewers about how we got to where we are today. - Reply to this comment
- So sad. I am a female science teacher who was drawn to science by the excitement and challenge of the space program in the 60's. The thrill of research in labs and seeing it build into something real. I have graduated thousands of students in my thirty years teaching. And here I am years later ready to hand off our knowledge and drive to the next generation of future scientists and engineers and I precious little to offer them. For all of the cry for STEM education to save the country because we need scientists and engineers- it is a sham.
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- I'm sympathetic for anyone who is unemployed. However, the people you profiled were lucky enough to have long-term careers which they thoroughly loved. I graduated as an Engineer in 1971 hoping to work for the space program. At that time, the Apollo program was winding down, and the SST had just been canceled. My career never materialized, I never had much job security in spite of a PhD and 2 master's degrees. The people you profiled should stand back and remember how lucky they have been.
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- The Dept of Defense closed several military bases from a list authorized by Congress in 2005 (BRAC). Many communities, large and small, have suffered from the monetary loss plus the loss of volunteers in the schools, humane societies, etc, and the friendships that had to move out of the area. KSC is no different. The town appears to not have prepared its' residents for the future without the space center.
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