Corridor In The News

NASA Task Force Talks About Jobs at KSC Meeting

By Bart Jansen

WASHINGTON (August 4, 2010) – The head of a federal task force studying ways to replace lost NASA jobs will meet with displaced workers today at Kennedy Space Center as the deadline to get a plan to President Obama nears.

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who leads the task force with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, will tour the Space Life Sciences Lab, a facility NASA and local officials hope will anchor a 400-acre research and development complex called Exploration Park.

"Our goal has been to recommend ways to strengthen economic development along the Space Coast and throughout Florida's high tech corridor," said John Fernandez, assistant secretary of Commerce for economic development.

Obama created the $40 million Task Force on Space Industry Workforce and Economic Development in May to help diversify the area's economy and prepare workers for the "opportunities of tomorrow." He ordered it to report back to him by Aug. 15. This visit to KSC will be Locke's third to the region for the task force.

Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, D-New Smyrna Beach, Charles Scales, NASA associate deputy administrator, and KSC Director Robert Cabana also will attend the meeting.

In the meeting with displaced workers, Locke will discuss what the administration, his agency and NASA are doing to improve the local economy as the shuttle program winds down. Officials said he will listen to the challenges facing workers and how transition efforts can be improved. Federal officials have stressed repeatedly that their plans will rely on local participation and ideas.

Last month, Space Florida hosted a forum in Orlando that solicited "best ideas" from businesses, local governments and citizens on how to invest the $40 million. Most of the ideas focused on investments in renewable energy, funds to support start-up businesses and infrastructure projects.

The Space Life Sciences Lab, which Locke will tour with Cabana, offers an example of research that economic development officials said could be adapted for more commercial results. For example, some suggested there are broad applications for what NASA has learned about solar power as a renewable energy source and about human physiology through the International Space Station.

"This region can move in several compelling ways, and we've heard about a number of great opportunities in the life sciences, alternative energy, modeling and simulation, and robotics industries," Fernandez said.