NASA's Future, League CIty's Economy in Lock Step

Obama's budget, which does not make clear when, or perhaps if , NASA rockets will again launch astronauts into space once the venerable shuttle program is ended. The president's plan calls for Russian rockets to carry humans to the space station for five years or so, at which time private spaceflight companies would assume the task.
"It's possible the space agency will no longer maintain an astronaut corps after the shuttle retires"
Endeavour set to Deliver Final Key Station Parts." Houston Chronicle 05 Mar.
2010: A6.
So how should the City of League City react to this news? My guess is that some serious belt tightening needs to occur. The impact of the newly proposed Nasa budget will have a tremendous negative impact on the local economy. I believe we will see a serious decline in the housing market, Nasa jobs, Contractor Jobs, and the local goods and services economy that supplements the larger economy created by the thousands of Nasa employees. When people lose their jobs, they lose their houses to foreclosure or are forced to sell at fire sale prices. This has a direct impact on appraised values over time. This will sharply impinge on the city's ability to collect as much revenue as they currently are collecting. The city needs to have an austerity plan ready to go. Beware of those that marginalize the impact of this newly proposed Nasa budget. The new budget is the beginning of the death March for Nasa.
I am surprised by the number of residents and Nasa workers that agree with this proposed budget reduction in the space program to a mere shadow of its former self. While the new budget's proponents say that it is only Constellation that is cancelled, and NASA will receive six billion dollars more for shuttle. What the proponents will not tell you is that the additional budget money is to assist with the transition from government underwritten space travel to the private sector. The private sector will not underwrite such and endeavor and it is foolish to believe they can or will.

Below, is a startling opinion from one of our neighbors

"I have worked for one or another NASA contractor for 30 years. I have to say this about the axing of the Constellation project: It could not have happened to a more deserving project"

Nelson A Thompson
4th St
League City, TX 77573


"Death Deserved" Houston Chronicle 6th Mar.

2010: B6.

Dear Mr. Nelson A. Thompson, what positions did you hold over the last 30 years that makes you an authority on the issue that Constellation deserved the death sentence? Sounds to me like you are a post Apollo bureaucrat about to retire so you have very little skin in the game. Where was you voice over the last 30 years?