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Author
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Topic: What's the (Florida) Space Coast like now?
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Tykeanaut
Member Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 10-24-2015 04:55 AM
   
Unfortunately I haven't been to the space coast since 2000, when the shuttle was still obviously very active. I just wondered what the area is like now, hopefully not like a graveyard I hope? I do intend to make another visit in the next few years but fear it will not be buzzing as it was last time? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-24-2015 05:18 AM
As one data point, Florida Today last month reported that Brevard County hotels brought in higher revenues this year based on tax records. As Labor Day marks the end of the traditional summer tourist season, the Space Coast Office of Tourism reports that Brevard County Tourist Development Tax revenue for the current budget year is up 16 percent from the same period last year. Every month was stronger than the same month a year earlier. The 5 percent tax is collected on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals. In August, the paper reported that between June 2010 and June 2015, Titusville's unemployment rate fell from 12.1 percent to 6.1 percent, and its residential real estate market is in the midst of an upswing, with home prices rising. Housing prices and sales are up — and starting to catch up with the rest of Brevard — and unemployment is showing signs of improvement. Also, a community whose life blood was the flow of federal dollars coming from NASA is now finding new investment and money from other sources. Boeing's decision to base CST-100 assembly at Kennedy Space Center is bringing 550 new jobs to the area, and Blue Origin's recent announcement that it was basing assembly and launch operations at Cape Canaveral's Complex 36 is expected to bring in 330 jobs and inject more than $200 million into local facilities. |
SpaceKSCBlog
Member Posts: 119
From: Merritt Island, FL
Registered: Nov 2011
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posted 10-24-2015 05:21 AM
Unfortunately "60 Minutes" with a smear piece created a false impression in the mind of the public that the Space Coast is dead.The opposite is true. People forget that there was a six-year pause between Apollo and Shuttle to retool KSC. The current pause has been planned since 2004. Look at the Vision for Space Exploration plans, and you'll find there was a to be a four-year gap between Shuttle and what came next. Renovations abound at KSC. The VAB and both launch pads are being upgraded. We are now a multi-user spaceport. Commercial companies are signing up to use facilities. Before the SpaceX accident in June, we were on course to average two launches a month -- the busiest we've been since the early 1990s. The new SpaceX Falcon Heavy is scheduled for its first test flight from Pad 39A in the spring. So KSC will be an operational spaceport once again. The local economy is booming. Housing prices are taking off and new tracts are being built. So don't believe the negative hype. We're doing just fine here in the Space Coast. |
pupnik
Member Posts: 114
From: Maryland
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 10-24-2015 08:55 AM
Port Canaveral also brings in about 4 million tourists a year, more than double what it did in 2000. |
Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 10-25-2015 09:59 AM
Brevard Times, March 29, 2015: Brevard County's unemployment rate dropped to 6.1% in February 2015 from 7.5% in February 2014, mostly due to a sharply shrinking labor force over the past three years combined with a slight increase in jobs over the last year. |
Tykeanaut
Member Posts: 2212
From: Worcestershire, England, UK.
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 10-25-2015 11:00 AM
Good, I'm pleased to learn that the area and economy are still buoyant.  |
robert_l
Member Posts: 168
From: Dundee,Scotland
Registered: Jul 2008
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posted 10-25-2015 06:11 PM
Looking forward to going back to the cape in January, last time I was there was 2013. Highlight this time will be up close to Atlantis! |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-28-2015 12:26 AM
Not space, but aerospace — Northrop Grumman on Tuesday (Oct. 28) won the Air Force contract to design and manufacture the Long Range Strike-Bomber. It could mean a $500 million capital investment by Northrop Grumman at its already growing and flourishing operations at Melbourne International Airport, and also 1,500 additional jobs paying an average annual wage of $100,000 in support of the program....news that Brevard could be a major beneficiary of the Air Force contract emerged last year as Northrop Grumman began consolidating operations and establishing Centers of Excellence. In 2013, Northrop chose Melbourne International as a Manned Aircraft Design Center of Excellence, where a considerable amount of engineering and program management for a variety of military aircraft takes place. The bomber now will be added to Northrop Grumman's menu and with it hundreds of high-tech jobs. |
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