High joblessness in the home of U.S. space flight

[@OriginalOutdoorplayer]

7000 at KSC, 7000 collateral jobs lost. Layoffs at ATK, KSC, JSC, LMCO, Oribital, Ball, and many others plus all of their collateral job losses. The impact is much bigger than people realize. Layoffs have not stopped yet. It is truly sad.

[@Brentmette1]

One interviewed said he was to proud to take a part-time job ,in the full length video . Will any of you now appreciate that waitress you didn't tip ,and are to proud to be ?!?! The homeless person you stepped over ?!?! The children who only meal a day was the free school lunch you cut back ?!?! The migrant laborer you wouldn't offer a glass of water on a hot day who works for less then minimum wage ,but raises a family ,and still send a little back home . They say the strong survive ,who are U

[@cej121]

Sad to watch that and see the hardships those people are going through. Glad I had the opportunity to work in the shuttle program though. The guy was right, watching a launch gave you this overwhelming sense of accomplishment.

[@Grendelsbane]

Sad...the US just seems to baldly accept its fate where it once led. It wallows. Truly "we are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven".

[@bccarl88]

When the space shuttle program was cancelled, we las a nation lost the ambition to pursue science. We lost the ambition to pursue the stars. This just sickens me that this amazing feat of science ihas been cancelled before it should of.

[@SunsetSheen]

...and the government is still trying to tell us that we're out of the recession

[@KymmLisa]

My father has been a part of the space program since the beginning and this whole shut down of the space program pisses me off! Now we have another 7000 unemployed, aren't we supposed to be making jobs? My father now 83 just went to check out the trucks transporting the shuttle to it's final resting spot to make sure they're safe, and what must have been going through his mind I can only guess. Presidents used to call and ask his advice on the spaceships and shuttles, the calls have stopped!

[@BoyJohnC]

I always love to watch Scott and his colleagues' original reporting !

[@knsbeth]

THERE IS NOTHING LIKE IT IN THE WORLD..... PEOPLE HERE JUST HAD SO MUCH PRIDE AND SO MUCH HONOR. IT WAS NEVER TAKEN FOR GRANTED HERE.

[@jeffdivona]

Going on 7 yrs of recession. But it "officially" ended in 2009 (shortly after someone was presented with a Nobel prize in honor of the pigment of his skin).

[@knsbeth]

The ENTIRE County would shut down during a launch. Cars stopped alongside of the road to watch it. There was nothing like it in the world.

[@knsbeth]

Really???? I don't believe anybody here exuded arrogance...

[@bethnickles8576]

And now we are looking at 2024 before we launch another manned spacecraft. While it's great that private industry has picked up in the development of another space program, they have so many issues, that we aren't even close yet. Milestones have been reached in that mission. And I congratulate all of these companies on working to get us back up there. This NEVER should have happened.

[@erinprather3793]

It will not happen you are living in fantasy land. American Human Spaceflight in our own ship is OVER! It is not coming back EVER! The other Human Space Programs will also get out of the game as well. I use to dream of a Star Trek future, but we are fresh out of that-instead we are going to go Mad Max instead!Hope I am wrong, but I know I am not!

[@bethnickles8576]

Private companies are now funding it.. Employees that were laid off created these companies.. keep an eye on it.

[@pooooooooooops]

This was really hard to watch.

[@Estreka]

I'm an orbital engineer out of Vandenberg. Lost my job in '11 but found an IT job in support of that vacated position 13 months later as a contracted trainer. Now my contract is complete and I'm seeking work once more. It's never been easy working on a leading-edge career field, but it seems downright dismal now. I appreciate the endeavors of individuals like Elon Musk who try to harness America's space talent and keep the public engaged in spaceflight, but I'm afraid the brain drain is inevitable. Much like our capability to build nuclear reactors, the knowledge base necessary to launch and maintain orbiting satellites is declining. The wheel will someday need to be reinvented when it's suddenly imperative to do so.

[@directedby100]

Estreka I recall the Avro Arrow project in Toronto, how they built the fastest, most advanced fighter jet in the world in the mid to late 1950's. It was shut down for budget reasons. But this report on Brevard mirrors exactly what happened in the aeronautics industry in Toronto following that. Several hundred scientists, engineers, pilots, and technicians were hired by NASA, which was kicking into high gear at the time. The loss of the Avro Arrow project was an absolute, it rippled out through the economy in hundreds of ways. It never came back, of course. I'm skeptical that the SpaceX venture will ever get off the ground. Private space-related companies need to develop naturally as that industry sector evolves, not as the result of government diktat. Obama basically killed off the American space effort. Period.

[@floridashorti]

its horrible here

[@-Rambi-]

Reading thru these comments, how wrong you were you petty little whiners.

[@stage51manager]

Mike O' Machearley is in Florida! From Ohio to Florida!

[@mwilliams82684]

These people worked how many years? And are how old? And are broke? Hmmmmm

[@JohnBrown-gm1yc]

Anyone here in 2020? Manned space program is back thanks to a new Presidential administration. Thank you President Trump 👏

[@MinisterAilingTongue]

Business people seldom are of the Ben Franklin type. Unfortunately, they've taken over the system and this is what happens. And the colonization of the moon was Grinchrich's only awesome policy in my opinion. But then I'm not a Fundamentalist Christian or a Social Darwinist...

[@mj1234321]

The beginning of the end was the loss of Columbia in 2003, and I think the Bush administration shares some of the blame for a poorly conceived, unsustainable Constellation program (which, despite the findings of the Augustine Commission, was partially revived in the form of Orion and the SLS heavy lift vehicle, which suffers the same high cost, low flight rate problem as the original Ares shuttle-derived launcher). But the Obama administration certainly disappointed me greatly and missed a golden opportunity to set NASA back on course. What we need is a mission, and then the architecture will follow. Instead we have SLS and Orion in search of a mission (and with no lunar lander, the only thing they can do is circle the moon or perhaps visit a near-Earth asteroid - hence the crazy asteroid capture mission proposal). I think SpaceX is on the right track in pursuing reusability and a reduction in launch costs. Sadly, NASA is no longer about innovation, and the days of ambitious X-30/NASP or X-33/VentureStar type efforts are behind us. So, I hope that SpaceX can succeed in bringing about a revolution in spaceflight and I hope to see Dragon 2 carrying crews to orbit soon!

[@knsbeth]

No.... Just No. We lost Challenger too. Columbia had nothing to do with this. I wish people could understand how this all went down. I lived through it. It was horrible. Just another promise scrapped by Obama. One of the first things he did was defund this program. It was disgusting. Orion was 3/4 of the way built in the VIB. They had to disassemble the damned thing. Spacex, United Space Alliance, and other private companies took much of the progress made in that program and implemented them into what is going on now. Stuff like this just blows my mind.

[@richardalan6641]

When will this current madness end?

[@knsbeth]

When we get this jerk out of office. Although I fear that so much damage has been done it will take decades to repair.

[@directedby100]

Beth Nickles Obama was determined to cancel all substantive NASA projects. Anything that generated so much national pride had to go. He would have done this no matter what. Notice too how he gets behind projects that diminish and take down the USA ...

[@shattertheearth]

+Beth Nickles +Stephen Carter I'm an Obama supporter in the space industry, and I don't approve of his decision to entirely cancel the constellation program. But implying that he's a "jerk" and that he was "determined to cancel all substantive NASA projects" because Obama doesn't want any national pride? That's asinine bullshit coming straight from a right wing nut-job. He inherited an absolutely awful economy brought on by ludicrous Republican policies and had to focus whatever government money he could on immediate economic stimulus.

[@shattertheearth]

+Beth Nickles +Stephen Carter Should he have gone this far with the program restructure? No, and him making those comments in 2008 is aggravating. But keep in mind, the Augustine Commission found that Constellation was way behind schedule and already over budget. Besides, Bush never actually gave it the funding it required. He just proposed it in 2004 to win a constituency in an election year. Look at the Orion capsule. Its been under development for 11 years and has flown exactly one test flight. By the time it flies in 2023, which was a delay after it had originally been scheduled for 2021, we will have spent around $7B. That's $3.5B per mission. NASA will continue to operate this way so long as politicians fighting for both reelection and jobs in their district have the final say in the program's direction and how much money the agency is allocated. That's all it has become: a jobs program.

[@animeshdas9842]

Too much sensationalism and trying to making the documentary forced dramatic and emotional.

[@jacoballen3267]

The Legacy of Barack Obama, the self proclaimed “pride” of Brevard County.

[@stage51manager]

Jacob Allen After this Coronavirus. America back were we started RECESSION 2020 🇺🇸😷 Stock Markets are already down, inflation stagnation. Regardless of political parties, religion and politics. Unemployment rate 10% or higher again!

[@Brentmette1]

I don't wish misfortune on anyone ,but when I see this I wanted to Scream ! Ever been homeless ,know what hunger pains feel like ,or the adverse effects of being without ??? I DO !!! 2nd & 3rd generations of employees ,average income 82k ,time on the job 15 years ? Welcome to the World of the Majority ! Pour you !!! Think some interviewed said it best "Never had to do without" "Matter of pride" "Ego". Been without health care or work for almost 5 years now , Put your "BIG GIRL PANTIES ON" !!! Wa

[@bccarl88]

Haha I would loved to have seen space shuttles sponsored by budweiser or winston

[@oldyoutubevideos1262]

Maybe 60 minutes could have explained the reason why Shuttle was shut down so "abruptly"(decision made 2005). It was because of the 2 killed astronaut crews, and they knew that statistically another one might happen within next 15 years since the last one. Shuttles biggest problems except the price tag, was that it didn't have a escape launch system for the crew.

[@questioneverything2]

make America great again

[@mwilliams82684]

These people worked how many years? And are how old? And are broke? Hmmmmm

[@mwilliams82684]

These people worked how many years? And are how old? And are broke? Hmmmmm