A year after Space Shuttle's final flight, workers still struggle (+video)

A year after the final flight of the Atlantis marked the end of NASA's Space Shuttle program, thousands of engineers and other workers who helped make the program possible are still looking for decent work.?

By Mike Schneider,?Associated Press / July 16, 2012

Former space shuttle worker Terry White poses in front of a mock space shuttle at the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Titusville, Fla., last Wednesday. White was a project manager who worked 33 years for the shuttle program until he was laid off after Atlantis landed in July 2011.

John Raoux/AP

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A?year?after?NASA?ended?the?three-decade-long?U.S.?space?shuttle?program,?thousands?of formerly?well-paid?engineers?and other workers around the Kennedy?Space?Center are still struggling to find jobs to replace the careers that flourished when?shuttles?blasted off from the Florida "Space?Coast."

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The end of the space shuttle means layoffs and other economic distress for Florida's Space Coast. Time Magazine.

Some have headed to South Carolina to build airplanes in that state's growing industry, and others have moved as far as Afghanistan to work as government contractors. Some found lower-paying jobs beneath their technical skills that allowed them to stay. Many are still looking for work and cutting back on things like driving and utilities to save money.

"Nobody wants to hire the old guy," said Terry White, a 62-year-old?former?project manager who worked 33?years?for theshuttle?program?until he was laid off after Atlantis landed last July 21. "There just isn't a lot of work around here. Or if so, the wages are really small."

White earned more than $100,000 a?year?at the?end?of his career at the?space?center. The prospects of finding a job that pays anywhere near that along the?Space?Coast are slim.

"I could take an $11-an-hour job that is 40 miles away," he said "But with gas prices and all that, it's not really worthwhile."

More than 7,400 people, who once had labored on one of history's most complicated?engineering?achievements, lost their jobs when the?shuttle?program?ended?last July. While other?shuttle?workers in Houston, New Orleans and Huntsville, Alabama, lost jobs, those areas had bigger economies to absorb the workers. In less economically diverse Brevard County, the mainly contractor positions cut by?NASA?accounted for just under 5 percent of the county's private sector jobs.

The Kennedy?Space?Center's current workforce of 8,500 workers is the smallest in more in than 35?years. In the middle of the last decade, the?space?center employed around 15,000 workers.

James Peek, a 48-year-old quality inspector for the?shuttles, has applied for 50 positions with no success since he was laid off in October 2010. He has taken odd jobs glazing windows for a luxury hotel in Orlando and working as a security guard. He has no health insurance and incurred a $13,000 bill when he was hospitalized for three days last May.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/L4RYoPuZOKw/A-year-after-Space-Shuttle-s-final-flight-workers-still-struggle-video

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