[Mb-civic] Do You Know An Engineer Who Wants To Work In Space? (NASA's Hiring)

[Jim Burns]

That's an email heading I never thought I'd be fowarding....!  But this
sounds like an exciting opportunity.  Jim Burns
_______


"Director says KSC will add 275 jobs; Kennedy briefs 15,000 workers" 

By Todd Halvorson, Florida Today
FloridaToday.com
Posted Online: October 7, 2005 

CAPE CANAVERAL - NASA's Kennedy Space Center will hire 275 new engineers
in the next year to beef up its safety staff and help turn the agency's
shuttle launch site into a spaceport for moon missions, officials said
Thursday. 

Moreover, no major layoffs are anticipated at KSC when NASA retires its
shuttle fleet and starts launching next-generation rockets and
spaceships with a smaller work force. 

"My hope is with normal attrition, not the first person will have to hit
the street that doesn't want to," KSC Director James Kennedy said. 

"Time will tell, but we are committed to trying to make that happen." 

In what amounted to an informal "State Of KSC" address, Kennedy briefed
the center's 15,000 workers for the first time since NASA on Sept. 19
unveiled plans for rockets and spaceships that it will build for moon
missions. 

The briefing also followed White House inquiries into potential cost
savings from an immediate shuttle program shutdown and a congressional
move to divert $104 billion for the moon project to rebuilding the
hurricane-battered Gulf Coast. 

NASA's plan still is to fly the shuttles through September 2010,
completing as much International Space Station assembly work as possible
between now and then. 
Kennedy said the agency intends to fly 18 station assembly flights -- a
reduction from 28 -- plus a repair mission to Hubble Space 
Telescope. 

The No. 1 priority during that period: shuttle flight safety. 

"We cannot afford to fail. Period. The end," Kennedy said. "If we fail
with the shuttle program, for example, the future is very questionable
for all of us." 

The size of the KSC work force is expected to remain stable through the
end of the shuttle program, Kennedy said. But he acknowledged the work
force would shrink as NASA begins launching new rockets and spaceships
for the moon program. 

A significant percentage of the existing work force, however, is
expected to retire or leave for other reasons between now and 2012, so
no major layoffs are expected. 
The new hires in the next year will be made in two areas: safety and new
exploration initiatives. 

KSC still is completing the post-Columbia build-up of its Safety and
Mission Assurance Directorate. The agency also will need engineers to
modify KSC facilities, such as the Vehicle Assembly Building and twin
shuttle launch pads, for the moon project. 

First dibs on new positions will go to employees from other NASA field
centers that currently face work force reductions. 

Said Kennedy: "The hiring we'll be doing to supplement the existing
cadre is going to be targeted initially at our sister centers with an
over-capacity." 


© Copyright 2005 Florida Today