NASA Glenn would gain jobs, grow in stature under Obama plan, Sen. Sherrod Brown says

The NASA Glenn Research Center would gain several hundred jobs and greater stature in the space agency with new duties under President Obama's proposed budget, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown says.

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Clik here to view.View full sizeJoshua Gunter, The Plain Dealer file photographA Constellation space mission banner hangs from NASA Glenn's wind tunnel building last month. President Barack Obama's proposed budget would end NASA Glenn's vital role in the Constellation program, but Sen. Sherrod Brown says other projects would bring the Brook Park center hundreds more jobs and greater stature in the space agency.CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The NASA Glenn Research Center would gain several hundred jobs and greater stature in the space agency with new duties under President Obama's proposed budget, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown says.

Those jobs result from NASA Glenn's role as leader of two new programs that would cost $2.1 billion over the next five years, NASA officials announced today.

The gains would come even as scores of civil service positions could be lost at NASA Glenn under Obama's plan to phase out the back-to-the-moon mission known as Constellation, in which the Brook Park center plays a vital role.

Obama favors using commercial rockets for near-Earth missions, such as trips to the International Space Station, and undertaking more research before embarking on manned deep-space flights.

"While Constellation will be scaled back, Cleveland gets a whole lot more money, jobs and importance in the whole NASA program," said Brown, a Democrat from Avon. "It means a new day and a series of new responsibilities and missions for NASA Glenn."

Others weren't as exuberant about the plans laid out today by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden during a national teleconference that detailed duties at each of NASA's 10 centers under Obama's plan.

The president's vision faces opposition in Congress. Guardians of Constellation say Obama wants to sack manned space flight in favor of a plan that does not have a clear space destination.

Constellation aimed to return astronauts to low-Earth orbit, and then the moon by 2020. But those efforts were under-funded and way behind schedule.

Instead, the U.S. might have to hitch rides on foreign spacecraft, once the Space Shuttle is phased out later this year.

"We cannot outsource . . . our nation's security to other countries, and that is what will happen if we end human space exploration," Rep. Steven LaTourette, a Republican from Bainbridge Township, said in a written statement.

NASA's Bolden insisted today that a Mars landing is the ultimate goal. But great leaps in space technology are needed, and that's what fuels Obama's plan, Bolden said.

Advances in deep-space propulsion and flight systems play to NASA Glenn's strengths, NASA officials noted.

The Brook Park campus employs over 1,300 civil servants, more than half of them scientists and engineers, NASA said.

That's a big reason NASA would lead the new Exploration Technology Development and Demonstration Program, to be funded at $223 million in 2011 and at $1.8 billion over five years, under Obama's proposal.

The program would "provide a path for bringing key exploration technologies to maturity" -- from the laboratory to flight testing, NASA said.

NASA Glenn would also lead the new Space Technology Research Grants program, managing $70 million next year and $350 million over five years.

The program would dole out grants and oversee research collaborations with universities, as well as pay for a graduate fellowship project to train new engineers and scientists.

NASA Glenn will also see funding for another specialty, aeronautics research. Money will go to advances in green aviation and next-generation transportation systems.

NASA Glenn officials declined to comment today on the proposed programs, but planned a press conference for 9:45 a.m. Friday.

The center has averaged some $90 million a year on Constellation-related activity, including developing the service module for a space capsule.

Some of that work could be salvaged as part of commercial space flights in low-Earth orbit, NASA officials said.

Other "nuggets" of Constellation could be part of NASA's new space-exploration work, officials said.

The leading lobbyist for Greater Cleveland's chamber of commerce said she was "fairly encouraged" with today's news.

The Obama administration is "strategically putting its plans out there more boldly," said Carol Caruso of the Greater Cleveland Partnership. "But a lot of questions are being asked. We'll have to see how the process plays out."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich said he was pleased that Obama sees "the value of the NASA Glenn workforce."

"Now, we've got to get down to the details," said Kucinich, a Democrat from Lakewood, whose district includes NASA Glenn. "We've got to make sure the benefits of the program are embedded in the long term."