Font Resize
LAS CRUCES - Two years ago, NASA said more than 8,000 contractor jobs connected to the space program could be eliminated after the space shuttle program was shut down.
With the shuttle's final days imminent - the last flights are scheduled for next year - the questions that now must be asked are: Will there be layoffs at the Lyndon B. Johnson NASA White Sands Test Facility near Las Cruces and, if so, what effect will that have on the local economy?
Right now, the answer is unclear.
The test facility has about 700 workers, with about 50 of them employed by the government and the rest by private contractors, said Robert Cort, the facility's associate manager of technical operations.
The two biggest employers at the facility - where rocket motor testing takes place as does refurbishing of flight hardware and other tasks - are Jacobs Technology and Enterprise Advisory Services Inc.
Cort said both contractors have had some layoffs, but have rehired some of their workers as well. He does not know if NASA will lay off any of the government employees.
Juan Mujica works for Enterprise and said the topic is on employees' minds, but there is no panic.
"I wouldn't say we're worried, but people do have concern about their jobs," he said.
Economist James Peach, who teaches at New Mexico State University, said he does not expect the NASA facility to be mothballed.
"I just can't imagine that they are going to do that," Peach said. "They'll almost certainly still have a
In fact, the area could even see an increase in activity.
"What I suspect, despite the current budgetary environment, is that NASA still has got to do something to replace the shuttle, and that might even mean more work here," Peach said.
In fact, work on a multi-purpose crew vehicle based on the Orion capsule from the Constellation program could continue to keep the test facility busy.
"I don't buy into the fact that the NASA test facility will just go away," said Isaac Chavez, executive director of the Las Cruces Association of Realtors. "It's a one-of-a-kind facility, not something that is easily duplicated."
According to Cort, "When things pick up at Spaceport America, they're probably be opportunities there."
Still, if there are layoffs, how widespread would be the effect?
"Cutbacks will affect us," Chavez said. "(The facility) is so important to the economy."
The strain on real estate might not be as heavy on the purchase and sale of homes, he said. But landlords would feel the sting.
"Not everybody there buys (houses)," Chavez said. "A lot of people know they're going to be there for just a couple of years, so they rent. A lot of people are based out of Johnson (Space Center) in Houston and they know they'll only be here for one, two or three years."
Brook Stockberger can be reached at (575) 541-5457.
Learn more
•White Sands Test Facility is online at nasa.gov/centers/wstf/home/index.html.
