The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) released results April 13 from a study it commissioned showing that the NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo Program proposed in the U.S. space agency’s 2011 budget request will result in an average of 11,800 direct jobs per year over the next five years, nationwide. The study was done by the Tauri Group, an analytic consulting firm based in Alexandria, Va.
NASA intends to spend $5.8 billion on commercial crew and an additional $312 million on commercial cargo between 2011 and 2015.
Brett Alexander, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said the Tauri Group analysis indicates a peak of 14,200 direct jobs in 2012 as industry develops crew capsules, human-rates rockets, upgrades launch infrastructure at Cape Canaveral, Fla., manufactures launch vehicles and conducts demonstration launches.
In a pair of separate announcements, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation announced that Raytheon Company and Jacobs Technology, a division of Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., had joined the Washington-based advocacy group as associate members.
Garnett Stowe, Raytheon vice president of national intelligence programs and space, said in an April 14 statement that commercial spaceflight “is a growth area” for Raytheon’s space sector, while Jacob’s Lon Miller called commercial human spaceflight “an exciting, rapidly emerging industry.”
