NASA Cuts ISS Jobs At MSFC
International Space Station Payload Operations Integration Center at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL. — NASA
Keith’s note: according to “NASA cuts dozens of Marshall Space Flight Center-based ISS jobs“ by WHNT Huntsville: “Congressman Robert Aderholt’s office confirmed NASA has cut dozens of International Space Station jobs based at Marshall Space Flight Center. Aderholt’s office said several dozen contract employees connected with ISS were let go Friday. They said this is part of the transition as NASA prepares to deorbit the ISS in 2030. Operations at MSFC with the ISS include communicating with astronauts to conduct experiments through the ISS Payload Operations Integration Center.”
2 responses to “NASA Cuts ISS Jobs At MSFC”
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I think this has been ‘NASA’s’ plan and hope for 20+ years. Remember the ‘sand’ charts of the Constellation program that showed ISS going to zero as exploration missions inherited the ISS money?
ISS was designed to never be retired-it was designed for modularity, maintainability…but NASA is in the business of building new things, not operating old things and maintaining the status quo. NASA’s budget has not gotten larger over time-its not even keeping pace with the national economy so maybe they could sell the ISS to someone else or else to get their exploration budget, they need to divest. It is too bad but no use has yet been found that pays to maintain ISS, let alone build a new ‘commercial’ station.
If it was designed to never be retired…they did a poor job of choosing materials to withstand the space environment. Not really their actual fault since no one understood materials behavior in space long-term. Modules 30+ years old leaking is only the start. ISS was the greatest long-term materials experiment but NASA also did a poor job taking advantage of the data they could have collected. The best materials degradation analysts are already gone, so no hope there now even if they could arrange a study.