Thanks To the Private Space Industry, Things Are Looking Up For Space City USA

gallifreyan99 writes When the shuttle program was ended, and manned space exploration was put on hold, the people of Titusville, Florida were left in big trouble. "Just 20 miles northwest of Kennedy Space Center in Florida, it used to have a proud nickname: Space City USA. The dizzying boom of the 1950s and '60s helped create myriad jobs by giving work to nearby aerospace companies. Unfortunately, the past 15 years have seen everything dry up By December 2010, Titusville had one of the America's highest unemployment rates, 13.8 percent." But even though there's been plenty of bad news recently, the city hopes that the private space industry can save it from destruction.

Comments

Let's sing!

[Roblimo]

Two boosters for every boy!

I bought a 67 Soyuz and we call it a capsule
(Space City, here we come)
You know it's not very cherry, it's an oldie but a goody
(Space City, here we come)
Well, it ain't got a back seat or a rear window
But it gets me in orbit where I wanna go
And we're goin' to Space City, 'cause it's two to one
You know we're goin' to Space City, gonna have some fun
Ya, we're goin' to Space City, 'cause it's two to one
You know we're goin' to Space City, gonna have some fun, now
SpaceX is hiring every girl and boy...

And if my Soyuz breaks down on me somewhere out in orbit
(Space City, here we come)
I'll strap my oxy tanks to my back and hitch a ride in my spacesuit
(Space City, here we come)
And when I get to Space City I'll be shootin' the horizon
And checkin' out the parties for a surfer girl
And we're goin' to Space City, 'cause it's two to one
You know we're goin' to Space City, gonna have some fun
Ya, we're goin' to Space City, 'cause it's two to one
Ya, we're goin' to Space City, gonna have some fun, now
Two boosters for every
Two SpaceX launches for every girl and boy...

Tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Ignore the lyrics on that one. They're WRONG!

Re:Private is the wrong way to go

[SourceFrog]

I think the best approach would be a hybrid one. Though healthcare sector is NOT any sort of 'role model'. Companies like SpaceX clearly have a lot to bring to the table in terms of innovation and bringing costs down, but to achieve large, visionary goals for man, will probably be helped a lot by government funding.

There is a myth though that anything to do with space is hideously unaffordably expensive. If you look at the actual numbers, this isn't really true. E.g. NASA's annual budget is just 0.5% of the money we blew on the Iraq War.

American healthcare system is not really "private" unless you consider a fasco-Corporatist system with government-protected cartels and monopolies and protections an example of a "private" system. I don't.

And yet...

[tlambert]

the US has the worst healthcare system of any developed nation, and it is privately run.

And yet, where do people want to be treated when they contract Ebola? What nations have active R&D for an Ebola vaccine? A Malaria vaccine? And in India, who actually uses the state run healthcare when private is an option? And in the U.K., how do you skip the NHS wait queue for something like hernia surgery? And in Canada, where do you go when the government health care system refuses to fix your knee because you're a computer programmer, and having a working knee is not necessary to your job function?

I guess there is room for a *little* privatization...

Re:And yet...

[theshowmecanuck]

The main Ebola drugs/vaccines that are in play were developed in Canada at the publicly funded National Microbiology Lab in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Some money came from private companies, but much was public funds; and who paid for the lab in the first place? (That's a rhetorical question if you didn't get it.) Level 4-containment microbiology labs aren't cheap, it's why there are only a handful in the world and why they are publicly funded, not privately... there is normally no profit in them. I am one who has no problem pointing out the folly and poor performance (it has hurt me personally) of Canada's "public only" healthcare system. I like the public/private funding paradigm that Europe seems to have and which Obamacare seems to be moving towards, and would like to see that adopted here (that is another topic altogether). But I am very against the "private only" healthcare system that many fake Christians in the U.S. want. I have seen it hurt too many people. And this is also a case where we can see that private isn't always better either.

Next question?

Re:And yet...

[Immerman]

If money is no object the US has the best medical facilities in the world. For everyone else you'd probably be better off going to Cuba - they have a truly awesome healthcare system that revolves around delivering the best possible care for as little money as possible, and they deliver impressively. For most common conditions their outcomes compare favorably with any wealthy nation, and at a tiny fraction of the expense.

I'd love to see the US adopt a two-tiered medical system: Cuban-style healthcare as the first tier, handling the 90+% of common injuries and ailments that can be cheaply and reliably treated without expensive high technology, along with all the regular house calls, follow-ups, lifestyle advice, etc,etc,etc. that doctors of old delivered. Remove the profit from the maintenance of basic health - *everyone* benefits from having a healthy, productive populace, and there's no reason that the healthcare system should be milking people for tens of thousands of dollars for outcomes which that can delivered at double-digit expense. Let's bring back doctors who are respected by their community and don't fleece their patients at every opportunity

Only if you are diagnosed with something that needs high-tech intervention do you get referred (without kickbacks) to the second tier, where specialists thrive in well-equipped hospitals - but you'd you'd better have insurance if you want to be able to afford their services.

I think such a system would be at least a wonderful "first draft" way to make sure no American ever has to suffer from a condition that could be treated for a few dollars at any decent 3rd-world clinic, while also maintaining the incentive structure that has led us to develop the cutting-edge treatments that made our medical services the preferred choice for the wealthiest people in the world.

Re:Private is the wrong way to go

[SourceFrog]

I know everyone likes to criticize NASA, but they have pulled off some extraordinary research on their really tight budgets. E.g. the initial cost for the Kepler Spacecraft mission was just something like $600million - and that project has quietly and with little fanfare achieved some of the most potentially history-changing research in the history of astronomy. (Why? Because for the first time in human history we are not only discovering many potentially 'earth-like' worlds, but actually basically starting to build the first "maps" of the planets in our galaxy - these are basically the first maps that will be used when we start sending probes to, and then later traveling to and colonizing other star systems - historians of the future will understand the significance in hindsight in a way few seem to grasp today.)

Re:Bring back the shuttles.

[theshowmecanuck]

I think part of the problem was that instead of treating it more like an experimental craft, learning from it and implementing changes based on those teachings, they treated it like a final every day working product. Like it was the end goal. There is no way you build the first 'reusable' space craft ever and it actually meets that goal. That is not wishful thinking, it's stupid. But in all the years I haven't seen or heard of much if anything that they say they could do better to improve on it. Maybe because they would have felt obliged to actually do something with it.

Bad Geography

[nurbles]

Full disclosure: I lived at Patrick AFB in the 1980s, in Cape Canaveral for the 1990s and have lived in Rockledge (20 mi South of Titusville) since 2000. But I don't work in the space industry.

Apparently the author of the linked article can't read a map (or GPS). Titusville is just over 9 (yes, NINE) miles DUE WEST of the VAB and just over 10 miles North-West of the main cluster of NASA admin and misc buildings, Titusville is only 20 miles NW of the waters outside Port Canaveral.

As for the reduction in unemployment from about ~13% to ~6%, it appears to be almost entirely from population loss rather than any form of job growth. One of the ex-NASA folks I was talking to believes that the private space companies are bad for the area because they bring their own people from out-of-town to work their launches instead of hiring experienced locals. I don't know if that's true, but everyone else I ever knew that worked at the space center moved away after everything shut down.

I live there, just a small town

[Smilodon]

I guess I *have* to post something, since I have lived in Titusville for a while, and also lived in the region for a shorter time in the early shuttle program days.

I have worked on the shuttle program and currently work in commercial space.

Titusville is just a small town in Florida, always has been, and almost certainly always will be. That isn't necessarily a bad thing if that is what you are looking for.

And, as others have mentioned, has been famously "anti-growth" during many periods in history. Which probably hasn't been that helpful when growth was a little more active around here.

The city has had a complex relationship with the space program and the tourist industry in Florida. Most of the "decay" are overly ambitious structures from the Apollo days (IE malls and large resort hotels). They were pretty run down even in the early "boom" days of the shuttle program. They have only suffered more under the extreme impact of the shuttle program shutdown.

In some cases, this was turned around into finally demolishing these structures and replacing them with something more appropriate for the area. There are newer hotels of the normal "big box" type on the interstate exits now, and most of the riverfront "resorts" are gone or converted to other purposes.

Like every town (in Florida particularly), attempts are made to attract tourism. There have been a number of failed schemes since the Apollo days. Before my time, there was a jungle park owned by Johnny Weismuller of "Tarzan" fame, there was a tacky "JFK" museum in the shuttle days, etc. etc. It all looks so good when you are surrounded by "big tourism". Orlando to the west, Daytona Beach and St. Augustine to the north, the Cape Canaveral cruise ports to the east. But, it's just those places that mean you are generally bypassed for activities that they all do better.

The space center is a huge tourist attraction, but you mostly get tourists from Orlando who just come out to the center and then head back.

And remember, Titusville is a "river front" town, not "ocean front". That makes a huge difference.

On the plus side, We do have access to unspoiled beach and wildlife in the national parks north of the space center. It is a great locale for fishing and boating. In spite of them letting *me* in, lots of smart and industrious folks live here (either retired or still active from the space center). It is a short drive to just about any tourist activity you would like to participate in (beaches, theme parks, etc.). But, like most small towns, it is short on great night spots, trendy food places, hip hotels and boutique shopping. But it has tiny, small-town versions of most of this stuff too.

Not a town booster, but it's really a pretty routine place of its type, just twisted a bit with all the big ups and downs of the biggest local industry. Any improvements in the employment numbers can't help but be a boost to the community (and others in the region). That isn't much of a mystery when you took the hit of the shuttle shutdown.