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NASA Glenn Taking Lead Role in Project
Lead Role in Spacecraft Project Means Changes at NASA Glenn
By JOE MILICIA
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND - After years of job losses, budget cuts and uncertainty, NASA Glenn Research Center is taking a leading role in developing the new space vehicle officials hope will carry people back to the moon and lead the way to Mars.
The workload, announced Monday by NASA, means the center now faces the challenge of transforming its focus from aeronautics research to replacing the 25-year-old space shuttle.
"It gives us a stability and enduring role in the long-term future of where the agency is headed," said Woodrow Whitlow Jr., director of NASA Glenn. "We are now a major part of the agency's future."
The project is an economic boost for NASA Glenn, which was struggling to remain viable as the space agency cut its aeronautics research the center's lifeblood to pursue President Bush's vision of returning to the moon and sending people to Mars.
NASA said work on the module that powers and propels the crew exploration vehicle would be done at the center, which includes 24 facilities near Cleveland's airport and the 6,400-acre Plum Brook Station in Sandusky. The crew exploration vehicle is modeled after the Apollo-era capsule and the target date for its first flight is 2014.
Though the Ohio center will receive more work, the overall division of labor that served NASA during the Apollo and shuttle eras will remain the same for the new program, named Constellation.
The brains of human space flight mission operations will remain in Houston at Johnson Space Center. The muscle overseeing the design of the space capsules and the launch vehicles stays at Marshall. And the legs the launch site remains at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
NASA Glenn also will lead work on the adapter that connects the exploration vehicle to the rocket that will carry it into orbit. Portions of the rocket will be designed at NASA Glenn as well.
"We will be retooling Glenn to participate more actively in the mainstream of what it is NASA is being asked to do," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said. "It's an opportunity. It's a challenge. It also presents difficulties."
The space agency would not comment on what the project is worth in dollars. Congressional budget experts have put the 15-year price tag at more than $125 billion.
NASA officials also were tightlipped about jobs. NASA Glenn employs 1,648 civil service workers and supports 1,384 contractor jobs, but hundreds of jobs have been lost in the last year alone.
A tight budget means future launches must be "enormously cheaper than the shuttle," Griffin said in a Washington press conference. While workloads may increase, staffing won't and in some cases may shrink.
Also Monday, additional design work with some robotic flights was given to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Tennessee Valley complex developed the Saturn V rocket two generations ago.
Marshall Director David King said getting back to the moon will be even tougher than reaching it the first time since plans now call for an extended stay rather than just a brief visit.
"We're going to have to plan this in a much more precise way," King said. "It is larger in scope than what we did the first time by a long shot."
AP science writer Seth Borenstein in Washington and Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Huntsville, Ala., contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
Lead Role in Spacecraft Project Means Changes at NASA Glenn
By JOE MILICIA
The Associated Press
CLEVELAND - After years of job losses, budget cuts and uncertainty, NASA Glenn Research Center is taking a leading role in developing the new space vehicle officials hope will carry people back to the moon and lead the way to Mars.
The workload, announced Monday by NASA, means the center now faces the challenge of transforming its focus from aeronautics research to replacing the 25-year-old space shuttle.
"It gives us a stability and enduring role in the long-term future of where the agency is headed," said Woodrow Whitlow Jr., director of NASA Glenn. "We are now a major part of the agency's future."
The project is an economic boost for NASA Glenn, which was struggling to remain viable as the space agency cut its aeronautics research the center's lifeblood to pursue President Bush's vision of returning to the moon and sending people to Mars.
NASA said work on the module that powers and propels the crew exploration vehicle would be done at the center, which includes 24 facilities near Cleveland's airport and the 6,400-acre Plum Brook Station in Sandusky. The crew exploration vehicle is modeled after the Apollo-era capsule and the target date for its first flight is 2014.
Though the Ohio center will receive more work, the overall division of labor that served NASA during the Apollo and shuttle eras will remain the same for the new program, named Constellation.
The brains of human space flight mission operations will remain in Houston at Johnson Space Center. The muscle overseeing the design of the space capsules and the launch vehicles stays at Marshall. And the legs the launch site remains at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
NASA Glenn also will lead work on the adapter that connects the exploration vehicle to the rocket that will carry it into orbit. Portions of the rocket will be designed at NASA Glenn as well.
"We will be retooling Glenn to participate more actively in the mainstream of what it is NASA is being asked to do," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said. "It's an opportunity. It's a challenge. It also presents difficulties."
The space agency would not comment on what the project is worth in dollars. Congressional budget experts have put the 15-year price tag at more than $125 billion.
NASA officials also were tightlipped about jobs. NASA Glenn employs 1,648 civil service workers and supports 1,384 contractor jobs, but hundreds of jobs have been lost in the last year alone.
A tight budget means future launches must be "enormously cheaper than the shuttle," Griffin said in a Washington press conference. While workloads may increase, staffing won't and in some cases may shrink.
Also Monday, additional design work with some robotic flights was given to Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Tennessee Valley complex developed the Saturn V rocket two generations ago.
Marshall Director David King said getting back to the moon will be even tougher than reaching it the first time since plans now call for an extended stay rather than just a brief visit.
"We're going to have to plan this in a much more precise way," King said. "It is larger in scope than what we did the first time by a long shot."
AP science writer Seth Borenstein in Washington and Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Huntsville, Ala., contributed to this report.
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures
NASA Glenn, which used to be NASA Lewis before everyone got all Glenn-crazy a few years ago, has mainly been focused on aeronautic research and engine design. We can still hear the wind tunnel ramp up during the summer sometimes.
IMHO, it's been a white elephant since the day it was conceived. It was supposed to save money by being reusable, but to my knowledge the launch vehicle never was, and the shuttled itself had to have the heat tiles constantly replaced, and the inside fixed. 
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