Florida had been in competition with several other states, including Texas, California and Oklahoma, to be a launch site for the VentureStar, the follow-up to the X-33 that NASA canceled Thursday.

The wedge-shaped VentureStar was to be the space shuttle's successor.

"The impact on the Cape will be negligible since X-33 was never intended to fly at the Cape," said Florida Rep. Dave Weldon, (R-Palm Bay), vice chairman of the House Space and Aeronautics subcommittee.

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"Like many X-vehicles, X-33 pushed the envelope with high-risk technologies. There is never a guarantee of success in X-vehicles," Weldon said in a statement. "Those of us familiar with the program sensed two years ago that making X-33 a reality would be difficult, let alone the follow-on VentureStar. NASA regrettably put all its eggs in one technology basket."

Florida used the competition for launch sites as a way to focus attention on the need to attract a bigger share of the commercial space industry to Cape Canaveral.

"Through these programs, we have found our strengths and weaknesses and created new opportunities, and as a result, we can be more competitive," said Ed Gormel, executive director of the Spaceport Florida Authority, the state agency responsible for space-related economic and academic development.

So for at least another 15 years, KSC remains the United States' only launch site for manned spacecraft.

Julie Andrews, Florida spokeswoman for Lockheed Martin, said it was too early to tell whether there will be layoffs or reassignments within the company as a result of X-33's demise. Of the company's 170,000 employees, 174 in California and Louisiana worked on X-33.

"It's obviously disappointing when you're this close to first flight," Andrews said.

Lockheed Martin will focus on transferring its X-33 technologies to other programs and getting its new Atlas 5 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in mid 2002.

"We are still very hopeful that we will be part of NASA's planning," Andrews said. "We have proposed technologies for the [program] other than X-33, so we await those announcements with anticipation."

Spaceport Florida also has been looking ahead.

"In anticipation of an event such as this, the authority's efforts have been toward the exploitation of the International Space Station and new expendable launch vehicles to diversify the spaceport to do more than just launch," Gormel said.

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