Jobs in Houston Texas Wait on the Wings of NASA’s Decision

NASA's pending decision to cut a large number of employees could mean the loss of several jobs in Houston Texas.

NASA recently announced that it is considering eliminating up to 20 percent of its employee costs on the manned space program in order to save money for a return trip to the moon. Those job cuts would include employees at the Johnson Space Center, which is located in Houston.

NASA currently has about 18,000 full-time employees throughout the country. The Johnson Space Center accounts for about 3,000 of those jobs, while NASA contractors account for another 15,000 jobs in the area.

According to an article by the Houston Chronicle, the effort is being spearheaded by NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver. The job cuts could potentially save the organization $1.5 billion to $2 billion each year during the next two years.

The eliminations would reduce the number of NASA personnel at contractors' facilities who oversee space agency work, as well as the number of contractor workers who coordinate with NASA.

While contractors have already cut more than 2,000 jobs because of the phaseout of NASA's shuttle program, NASA itself has seen few layoffs, which has drawn criticism from those outside the organization.

NASA could potentially get some help from the federal government, as President Barack Obama has asked Congress to give the organization $18.7 billion next year, including $4 billion for development of Constellation, the next generation of manned spacecraft, and $6.2 billion for the space shuttle, space flight support and the International Space Station.

In addition, a White House panel of 10 space experts is currently preparing a final report on a four-month review of the costs and direction of manned exploration. The findings of that report will help NASA and the government prepare for the next phase of space operations and decide whether or not they should extend shuttle operations to 2011 and space stations operations to 2020.