Washington, D.C. - Marshall Space Flight Center Director Robert Lightfoot had some sobering news to temper the excitement surrounding the NASA SLS announcement on Wednesday. "We don't view this as a jobs program." he said during a conference call with Huntsville reporters from Washington. "We view this as a national capability worth of a great nation to explore."
Lightfoot said that the workers laid off at MSFC recently predominantly came from other programs unaffected by today's announcement. "Ultimately we're going from three rocket programs to one." Lightfoot said. "I see this as stabilizing the existing work force we've got and I think they're ready to go and ready to get started doing this."
As for future expansion, Lightfoot again was practical. "We've got plenty on our plate right now and I'm not sure in this time of where we are as a country from a budget perspective and economic conditions I'm not sure that growth is in our cards any time soon. I'm not looking to grow the center, I'm just looking to take advantage of the capabilities we've got."
