Scrubbing Space Exploration Saved $3 Billion a Year, a Mere Rounding Error

It is not often that I can watch an entire segment of “60 minutes,” but I was riveted this past Sunday by their coverage of the last space shuttle flight and the economic and political repercussions for the Brevard area and for our nation. Person after person interviewed were sad or in tears about the deliberate destruction of our country, of our economy, and of our technological edge and the ability to defend ourselves.

Scott Pelley’s segment, “Hard Landing,” paints a severely depressed picture of Brevard County, Florida, the Kennedy Space Center’s home with its high unemployment, bank foreclosures, and people struggling to survive in the face of losing its largest employer. Many former shuttle workers mourn the loss of their employment, their pride, their sense of purpose as Americans and the loss of our national pride and as leaders in the world of space technology. Crane operators like Lou Hanna, who worked for NASA since the beginning of the Shuttle Flight in 1981, was holding back tears and hope. He was in charge of a large crane that cleared the platform before launch. He worked all 135 missions, including the last in July 2011. “It was the experience and the job of a lifetime.” (Lou Hanna)

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“I felt anger… Because this does not have to be the last launch. It does not have to end this way. I mean, it, it just does not make any sense. It does not compute. I guess I am still in denial because I am thinking they are going to call me back one day. ‘We got a launch coming up. We need your help.’ How can they do that?” (Lou Hanna – 60 Minutes) The people interviewed expressed the sorrow of losing their job, not just any job that paid quite well; it was a patriotic mission and duty to their country. The loss of homes, security, insurance, a good paycheck, inevitable bankruptcies, the shuttering of businesses that thrived for years were secondary to the monumental loss of our space exploration capability. After 30 years of liftoffs, 7,000 NASA workers found themselves unemployed and unemployable. America lost its Shuttle program and its ability to fly into space unless it buys a seat on a Russian rocket. We saved $3 billion a year, a mere rounding error in our out-of-control trillion-dollar spending, but we lost our national pride. “President Obama canceled NASA's plan to replace the space shuttle in favor of a more modest program, and then Congress slashed the funding for that.” (Scott Pelley) According to Chris Millner, this is not the first time Brevard County experienced unemployment on such large scale. It happened in 1972 after the last mission to the moon. NASA had the shuttle designed for years, ready to replace the lunar mission. Similarly, President Bush had approved a program called Constellation to follow the Shuttle. Workers were going to transfer from Shuttle program to Constellation program and were assured that the transition would be smooth. Three months before his election, on August 2, 2008, candidate Obama said to an audience in Titusville, Florida:

“I'm gonna ensure that our space program doesn't suffer when the shuttle goes out of service by making sure that all those who work in the space industry in Florida do not lose their jobs when the shuttle is retired because we can't afford to lose their expertise.

Mike Carpenter was shocked when President Obama cancelled Constellation in 2010 and turned over development of a new spaceship program to private entrepreneurs. “Well, we were lied to when Obama came through, gave us a lot of hope and supposedly a lot of change. Well, I've got change in my pocket, but the hope is gone.” (60 Minutes) Congress cut the funding for the Obama plan in half, delaying any possible space flights by Americans by at least five years. The first shuttle flight occurred on April 21, 1981. Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour’s numerous missions carried people into orbit, launched, recovered, and repaired satellites, built the International Space Station, and conducted cutting-edge research. The greatest feat of engineering, the shuttle weighed at liftoff four and a half million pounds and reached a top speed of 17,000 miles per hour. The discovery of advanced technology, the result of intense research and development, involved a vast workforce of military personnel, civilians, and contractors. The shuttle missions ended on July 21, 2011, with the STS-135 flight of Atlantis. Atlantis will remain at the Kennedy Space Center. She flew 33 missions although she was designed for 100. Scott Pelley said, “Like so many in Brevard County, Florida, she was pulled from the service to her country, long before she was ready.” The remaining shuttles will be displayed in museums across the country. Sammy Rivera, who worked for NASA for 26 years reviewing engineering drawings, said: “This is my country. And I can’t let it go down without a fight.” (60 Minutes)