"5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Center Planning and Development is Go."
We call ourselves the front door to KSC.
We kind of bridge the gap between what NASA needs to be successful and the things that
they don't need, and what could be available to make partners successful and commercial
space more viable.
When Shuttle was retired, there was a large surplus of excess assets and land on KSC that,
you know, all of the sudden had no real purpose or future.
Our goal is to repurpose them for more efficient use.
We have established a number of agreements with some very large companies like SpaceX
and Boeing to utilize facilities we have.
We also have a very large land agreement in place with Blue Origin.
We were in a very advantageous position for ourselves.
We had identified assets like Launch Complex 39A, Shuttle Landing Facility, that were outside
NASA's needs for the foreseeable future, and instead of letting those go to waste, covered
in weeds, we said this is very unique infrastructure that really could be utilized by a non-NASA entity.
The biggest misconception is that we're actually giving facilities away - which we're not.
Everything is still owned by the U.S. government.
It's still our asset.
We're just providing it to a commercial partner at a reimbursable basis.
We actually are recovering costs associated with maintaining those facilities and operating
those facilities.
It's not as much as a facilities plan as it is a plan to facilitate change.
And again it's a lot of outreach both internally and externally, letting folks know that, you
know, KSC is changing, and we feel like successfully changing.
So many times I get asked by friends of mine who do know where I work, and do know what
I do, they say, well is Kennedy Space Center shutting down, or is it closing...
are you going to loose your job?
And the answer is no.
We've cornered the spaceport business and the launch business.
We are growing faster than I think anybody who was the most positive five years ago thought
we were going to be at this point.
We're very vibrant today.
I worked on the Space Shuttle program, I am nostalgic for it as well.
But at the end of the Shuttle program, we knew that there was going to be a change coming,
that something had to change, and the harder we worked, the quicker we were going to benefit
not only the American public, but those folks that may have been effected by the end of
the Shuttle program.
We were going to help them get their jobs back.
There's a reason why you have companies like Blue Origin building giant facilities to manufacture
rockets here, and SpaceX just constantly expanding their presence here, it's because we are the
most advantageous place for them to operate.
We're close to everything, and we have the job base and the history of success that they're
looking for.
In the Planning Office, you really try to think not one or two steps ahead, but three
or four steps ahead.
We really have to rely on a very wide variety of subject matter experts to kind of gauge
how we see, you know, the most efficient way of evolving.
So we work very closely with the other programs to make sure that we don't commit something
that we can't make available to them in the future.
NASA always takes priority when it comes to utilization of facilities, or assets, or capabilities.
The programs understand the benefits that commercial bring now as well as the future
benefits that they may bring to their success as the partnerships grow, and the trust between
those two - commercial and NASA missions - grow.
It's a very fast paced and dynamic work environment, every day we are working with people from
all over the center, people outside the center, elected officials, making sure that NASA programs
are successful, that our commercial partners are successful, that the state's successful.
We're very proud that we've been able to participate in making the Kennedy Space Center a multiuser
spaceport.
We're blazing new trails.
I think if anybody is not excited by what Kennedy Space Center is doing right now,
they're not paying attention.
It really is just phenomenal to think about how bright the future is here because of,
you know, the path that we're on.