14 DAY TRIAL // Initially, the vision NASA had of space exploration was to retire the shuttles this September and then replace them with a new generation of space vehicles, called Project Constellation, as soon as the latter became available. But a review panel US President Barack Obama convened last year determined that the space agency's course of action was unfeasible, and proposed putting more money in the private sector. The 2011 budget proposal indeed provides more money for NASA, but how they will be divided is still something of an issue, Space reports.
Just last week, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told reporters in a teleconference about how funding will be distributed among some of the agency's most important centers. Analysts have since determined that the largest portion of the money will go to space centers and other facilities that are invested heavily in Project Constellation. This means that, if Obama's proposal passes, thousands of jobs could be lost at these facilities. The administration is therefore taking steps towards ensuring that at least a portion of the highly-qualified workforce employed here is kept within NASA.
“We have more money, and that would say that you have more jobs. If we use the standard measure for future jobs as money, then yes, there should be more jobs,” Bolden told reporters in a teleconference last week. He added that the agency had yet to conduct an independent assessment of just how much new workplaces would be formed under the new, $19 billion NASA budget. However, the official explained that the $6 billion that would be awarded to the commercial space industry over the next five years would certainly boost the number of contractors and subcontractors NASA was working with.
The new announcements come less than a week before Obama is scheduled to speak on April 15, at a facility near the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), in Florida. The spaceport is the home of the shuttle program, and thousands here are bound to lose their jobs if Congress votes for the approval of the president's budget proposal. It will be Obama's job to try and persuade the highly-skilled engineers not to flock to the private sector and remain within NASA. However, even with the increased budget, it's doubtful that the amount of new jobs created will equal or surpass that of lost jobs.