Employees at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have been assigned the responsibility of developing major components of America’s next manned space vehicle.

But Glenn officials said it was too early to tell if the assignment would mean more jobs for the region. Glenn’s decision to close two Brookpark Road buildings located within Fairview Park will not be reversed, the center’s deputy director told West Life.

NASA leaders formally announced Monday that Glenn will develop the service module of the Crew Exploration Vehicle, a six-man capsule modeled after the Apollo vehicle which carried 12 astronauts to the moon from 1969 to 1972.

Rich Christiansen, deputy director of the Glenn Research Center; Woodrow Whitlow, Jr., director; and Bryan Smith, chief, Crew Exploration Vehicle Project Office at Glenn; discuss the center's work on NASA's new space vehicle at a press conference Monday. An image of the Crew Launch Vehicle is projected on a screen behind the men. (Photo by Kevin Kelley)

NASA hopes to launch the first manned CEV flight in 2014 and send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.

The service module’s propulsion system will provide the CEV its maneuvering capability. Located just beneath the capsule, the service module will also generate power using solar arrays and keep the vehicle cool with heat rejection radiators.

In addition, Glenn will also oversee development of the spacecraft adapter, the hardware that connects the capsule and its service module to the rocket that launches it into orbit. Glenn was also given lead responsibilities for the upper stage of the Crew Launch Vehicle, which consists of an Apollo-style engine to carry the spacecraft into orbit.

Glenn Director Woodrow Whitlow said the service module assignment plays into the center’s strengths in power, communications and propulsion.

“There’s nothing that’s foreign to us in developing this new service module,” he said, adding that solar energy technology is another strength of Glenn.

Woodrow Whitlow, Jr.

Whitlow repeatedly said the impact the CEV work will have on jobs at the center is not yet known. The center currently has 1,648 civil servant employees in addition to over 1,300 contractors, Whitlow said. He acknowledged that some Glenn employees are still “uncovered,” meaning they currently have no assigned roles.

“It’s just too early to make specific estimates and declarations about dollars or people,” Whitlow said. “But in terms of the center’s future, what this does do is gives us a stable and inherent role in where the agency is going in space exploration.

“To me, that’s the critical point — that we are now a major part of the agency’s future and the agency’s vision.”

But NASA Administrator Michael Griffin warned against expecting the space exploration assignment will bring a windfall of new employment.

“We are not creating new jobs,” Griffin said in remarks from NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. “To create new jobs, NASA would have to be given, in real dollars, more money. In real dollars, our funding is approximately constant.”

Griffin said Glenn is one of NASA’s centers which is being moved back into the space business. Aeronautics had been considered a strong suit at Glenn, and the agency’s cutbacks in aeronautical research had caused concerns about the center’s future.

“We will be retooling Glenn to participate more actively in the mainstream of what it is NASA is being asked to do,” Griffin said. “It’s an opportunity. It’s a challenge. It also presents difficulties.”

Whitlow said more details about Glenn’s CEV work and its impact on jobs may come later this summer as contracts are finalized in anticipation of the start of the fiscal year in October. Griffin said the CEV contractor will be selected in August or September.

NASA officials said none of the assignments were politically driven. Nonetheless, Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who has fought vigorously against cuts at Glenn over the past two years, credited Ohio’s congressional delegation for Glenn’s good news.

“(Monday’s) announcement will mean jobs and economic growth for our area,” Kucinich said in a statement. “It will also ensure that NASA Glenn will remain a world-class research facility not only in aeronautics but also space exploration.

“(Monday’s) announcement comes after years of work by our bipartisan and bicameral coalition in the Congress to secure NASA Glenn’s budget and long-term viability. This is a prime example of how our delegation can come together and accomplish great things for the Cleveland area.”

Rich Christiansen, Glenn’s deputy director, said the CEV assignment means Glenn now moves from conducting basic research to system development.

“We will be part of building new vehicles,” he said. Instead of conducting experiments, Glenn engineers will be defining requirements for the new space hardware they’re responsible for.

Christiansen told West Life Glenn still plans to close Buildings 500 and 501 located on Brookpark Road. The pending closure of these buildings, which together represented Fairview Park’s largest employer, has send that suburb’s finances into a tailspin.

Christiansen said Glenn would like to see “a NASA purpose still remain on the property” where the two buildings sit. Glenn is looking at different proposals, he said, including an aerospace education center which could replace Glenn’s current onsite Visitor Information Center.

Another possibility is that contractors involved in CEV work could come to the site.

“With the announcements of these activities here, there are some who believe that perhaps some of the prime contractors, when they are selected, may wish to move in closer,” Christiansen said.

On the Web:

• NASA's Project Constellation site (Vision for Space Exploration)
• NASA article on spacecraft work assignments
• NASA Glenn Research Center
• NASA Glenn press release on CEV service module assignment
• Rep. Kucinich's statement on Glenn assignment