HOUSTON—The head of NASA spoke to employees at the Johnson Space Center Wednesday, addressing the impact the Obama administration’s proposed changes to the space program will have on jobs in the Houston area.
In his speech NASA Administrator General Charles Bolden talked about the space agency’s vision and the future of the Constellation program.
Both the Constellation and Orion programs are based out of Houston and are on the chopping block under Obama’s NASA plan.
"The goal is to develop a long-range plan to get beyond low-Earth orbit and eventually to Mars. If we flounder, it is unlikely we will have a similar opportunity in our lifetimes. America will lose its leadership in technological innovation and human spaceflight," Bolden said. "To make this dream a reality, we must identify quicker and less costly ways to develop new launch systems."
Bolden said contract workers will be the first to feel the impact of changes to the space program.
"Our contracted workers stand to bear the brunt of the adverse impacts that will result from this trajectory change, but we will stand by them and help in every way they can to ease the pain of employees needing to transition to other areas of the aerospace industry or even out of the industry, if they choose to do so," Bolden said.
Orbital Sciences Group has already warned its subcontractors that work on the Orion escape system will stop being funded on April 30.
"I can’t possibly know how you feel right now," Bolden told the workers. "But I can empathize with you and can do all in my power, I promise to do all in my power to compassionately help you deal with your situation."
Bolden’s visit came amid circulation layoff rumors, focused on the contractor base at the JSC.
The rumors started just after the close of business on Friday with an e-mail sent from Mark Geyer, the leader of the Orion Program, to Lockheed Martin, the program’s lead contractor.
The e-mail asked Lockheed to account for termination liability, which is to essentially figure out the cost of shutting down the program.
"We are working to identify acceptable solutions to this issue that have the least disruption to our team," the e-mail said.
Some people inside the company read the "disruption" as layoffs.
Officially, the Constellation and Orion programs are congressionally mandated and cannot be canceled without permission. Congress and the Obama administration are still at odds about the future of the space agency.
Bolden scolded workers for expressing dissenting views to congress, where there is still plenty of debate to come about NASA’s future.
He said Obama’s plan may be the only chance in our lifetimes to make a dramatic leap forward to deep space.
None of the Government workers here at JSC or any contractors we talked to wanted to go on camera.
They say they’ve been told not to.
But privately the work force seems split with some willing to see where the new road goes and others convinced that human spaceflight as we know it is dead.
