Workforce woes dominated the 19th National Space Symposium here. Aerospace is an industry largely staffed by a corps of engineers and managers that remember well the glory days of the U.S. space program - largely because they helped make it happen. With huge swaths of engineers and managers expected to retire in the years ahead, executives and government leaders are worried about the long-term viability of the aerospace industry.

"It's hard to convince people they should become aerospace engineers when the industry has shed half a million people in the past dozen years," said Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium. Tyson also served on the Commission of the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry, which looked long and hard at workforce issues.

Some executives here said they believe that a bold new initiative of the magnitude of the Apollo moon program is what's needed to, as Taylor said, "get people all lathered up about space."

Keebaugh suggested a different approach - making a concerted effort to emphasize the role space plays in things of important to younger generations.

"For example a lot of people identify with environmental issue," said Keebaugh, whose employer plays a major role in NASA's efforts to monitor the Earth's climate. "I'm not sure we are presenting ourselves correctly to the young people. I think once we get them in the door they become hooked on what we do."

But at the same time, these executives agreed that the outlook is less than rosy for the industry as a whole.  More layoffs are expected as companies adjust to the amount of government and commercial business ripe for the picking.

Still, they see hope in bold new projects like NASA's Project Prometheus -- which seeks to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft on a three-moon tour of Jupiter by the end of the decade - to inspire a new generation that there are worthwhile challenges ahead for a new breed of the best and brighest.