SPACE.com -- KSC: Not Your Father's Space Center

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	KSC: Not Your Father's Space Center By Todd Halvorson Cape Canaveral Bureau Chief posted: 04:02 pm ET 09 May 2000

By Todd Halvorson

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. NASAs storied "gateway to the universe" is undergoing a sweeping management reorganization aimed at turning Kennedy Space Center (KSC) into a spaceport technology development hub while maintaining its world-class standing in launch operations.

Job One in the early 21st century still will be safely launching NASAs $8 billion shuttle fleet, preparing parts of the International Space Station for flight and overseeing the agencys Expendable Launch Vehicle Program.

But at the same time, the new management structure -- which was put in place earlier this week -- for the first time establishes organizations that will focus specifically on developing new technologies to drive down the high cost of space transportation.

And that, said KSC Director Roy Bridges, is a significant shift toward research and development for an organization that has been focused almost solely on launch operations for the past four decades.

"The fact that we have recognized spaceport technology development as part of our reason for existence is very important," said Bridges, a former shuttle astronaut.

"Its not been recognized in the past, and in order for us to be successful in reducing the cost of space transportation, we needed to focus on that particular aspect of our mission. And we were not giving that enough attention."

The genesis of the management restructuring -- considered the most all-encompassing at KSC in some 20 years -- actually dates back to 1996.

In the fall of that year, NASA began gradually handing over the responsibility for day-to-day shuttle launch operations to United Space Alliance, a joint venture partnership of Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Co.

That move, in part, was designed to free up NASA talent to pursue the type of pure research and development work that the space agency was noted for in its early years.

The new management structure, meanwhile, sharpens that focus by specifically aiming R&D efforts at developing technologies for the type of 21st-century spaceport that will be needed to pave the way to low-cost, airline-like operations on Floridas Space Coast.

Doing so, Bridges said, will help both NASA and the U.S. commercial launch industry by making space transportation cheaper, which in turn, will enable the agency to take on human expeditions to the moon, Mars or beyond.

"NASA is focused on technology development -- and continuing to explore and open the space frontier for humans, and expanding this frontier out beyond Earth orbit," Bridges said.

"Our main objective is to continue safe and effective support of our operational programs: space shuttle, International Space Station and payload processing, and Expendable Launch Vehicle Services," he added. "At the same time, we will strive to improve our ability to focus on spaceport technology development."