The space industry remains one of Florida’s most important economic sectors.

Floridians living on the Space Coast have seen decades of opportunity and promise. People in Brevard, Volusia, and Orange counties can have hope for high-tech, high-wage employment. Tourism and the region’s large retirement community tend to generate low-wage, service jobs.

The retail and service sectors of the Space Coast’s economy are propped up with the disposable income from thousands of space industry workers. When hard times have hit Florida’s economy, the stability of space industry jobs kept employees in other sectors from facing layoffs, and provided reliable income to small businesses.

The region’s high concentration of skilled and talented individuals is an incredibly important resource for our state. This workforce lures a diverse range of high-tech businesses to Central Florida. We must avoid another “brain-drain”, as happened following the 1986 Challenger disaster, where skilled workers move away due to a down-tick in the space industry.

America retires the last of our aging Shuttle fleet in 2010, leaving us with no manned space vehicle until we finish developing and testing the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), which is scheduled for it’s first manned flight in September 2014. The next president must have a comprehensive plan and a commitment to the space industry, if we are not to cede America’s role as a leader in space.

The presidential candidates should communicate their positions on NASA funding, manned and robotic space-exploration, continued international cooperation in space science ventures, (such as the International Space Station, ISS), etc. Florida voters need to make an informed choice in the January, 29th primary. This is one of the issues that East Central Florida cares deeply about, as it hits these voters in the wallet. The candidate seen as most committed to funding the space industry will gain a sizable percentage of the region’s independents and swing-voters when the general election rolls around.

It’s not about the lofty goals of scientific pursuit. Neither is it about national pride. Nor is it about progress toward the future. “It’s the economy, stupid.”

This presidential election is about the economy, as any number of polls have indicated. On Florida’s Space Coast, the economy is the space industry and the potential to further develop Central Florida into a magnet for high-tech industries.

Yet, the candidates haven’t said much regarding this key issue:

• SPACE.com — Round Up Presidential Candidates Talk Space
• Space Politics » Reviewing the candidates’ space positions (or lack thereof)
• Space Politics » No time for Giuliani to talk space
• Space Politics » Rudy’s planetary protection policy

To be fair, Barack Obama made a recent effort to define his position, as reported by SpaceRef.com, on Jan. 10th: Barack Obama’s Plan For American Leadership in Space. [The article credits Barack Obama 2008, but I've not found a corresponding space-policy position page on the candidate's website.]

Following are the bullet points of Senator Obama’s plan:

• Develop the Next-Generation of Space Vehicles
• Complete the International Space Station
• Continue Unmanned Missions
• Monitor the Forces and Effects of Climate Change
• Support Scientific Research
• Maintain Surveillance to Strengthen National Security
• Keep Weapons out of Space
• Strengthen Math and Science Education
  • Recruit High-Quality Math and Science Teachers
  • Enhanced Science Instruction
  • Improve and Prioritize Science Assessments

Again, read Barack Obama’s Plan For American Leadership in Space, for the details.

Obama did well to address this issue now, before the Florida primary. His previous statement, (that he would fund part of his education plan through delaying the NASA Constellation program by five years), left voters with the perception that NASA budgets would suffer, should he win the presidency.

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