PELLEY: This isn’t the first hard landing on the Space Coast. There were big layoffs in 1972 after the last mission to the moon. But here’s why today is worse: When we left the moon, NASA was already years into designing the shuttle. And it looked like it would be that way now, because President Bush approved a program to follow the shuttle. The manned space program rocket was supposed to be called Constellation.
PELLEY: And now you guys call it…
FMR WORKERS: Cancellation.
WOMAN: Unfortunately.
PELLEY: Lou Hanna, and Joe Urich, Holly Petrucci, and Mike Carpenter planned to transfer from shuttle to Constellation. They were encouraged when candidate Barack Obama came to Brevard County in 2008, three months before the election.
BARACK OBAMA: I’m going to ensure that our space program doesn’t suffer when the shuttle goes out of service by making sure that all those who work in the space industry in Florida do not lose their jobs when the shuttle is retired, because we can’t afford to lose their expertise.
MIKE CARPENTER: Well, we were lied to when Obama came through. Gave us a lot of hope and, supposedly, a lot of change. Well, I’ve got change in my pocket, but the hope is gone.
PELLEY: In 2010, President Obama cancelled Constellation, and turned over development of a new spaceship to private enterprise. Then, Congress dealt another blow, by cutting the funding for the Obama plan in half. At the very least, it will be five years before America flies astronauts again. Now, the workers with that expertise Mr. Obama referred to are setting course for Carole Bess.
CAROLE BESS: And I’ve had several who’ve told me, "I was considering suicide before I came to you."
PELLEY: Carole Bess is a bankruptcy attorney. What drove them to that point?
BESS: They felt like failures. You know, "Here I am, I can’t pay my debts. And I’m probably worth more dead than alive, if I have life insurance."
PELLEY: And folks either aren’t finding work, or if they do, they’re making a lot less than they did before.
BESS: Correct. And that’s not going to change. These people have no hope. It could still get a lot worse, I think.