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CNN Live Today

Space Coast Future

Aired February 03, 2003 - 10:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to Daryn Kagan, who's standing by at the Kennedy Space Center there.
And, Daryn, as you may have heard moments ago, Rusty Dornin talking about how Houston is big city, but a small town when it comes to the space center there. I've got to think that's the same situation you've got happening down there, and because of that, everyone is somehow, some way connected to tragedy that happened there over the weekend.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely, Leon, in fact, in more ways than you could even imagine. We called up Congressman Tom Feeney and invited him to be with us this hour, and in fact, he's here with me just now, and talk about -- Congressman, good morning, by the way. Welcome, and thank you for joining us at this very busy time.

Leon was commenting on how this a sense not only at Johnson, but here, that this is one big family. This is literally family since your wife works right here at the center?

REP. TOM FEENEY (R), FLORIDA: Ella's worked down here for 18 years as an engineer for one of the contractors, and people that aren't affiliated with NASA may not understand, this is more than a job; it's a passion for people that work here. It really is one big family, and so obviously, a disaster like this hurts all of us very deeply.

KAGAN: And the people working here not only concerned, of course number one, concerned for the families of the astronauts, but also for the program, and not just what's going to happen to the future of the space program, but also what will happen to the future of their livelihood. You're going to be in on a meeting in the next hour where I imagine some of those issues will be addressed?

FEENEY: At 11:30 this morning, the center director Roy Bridges is going to have an all-hands meeting, about 500 to 600 NASA employees, where he'll probably give them a briefing, but the ultimate purpose here is to really boost the morale, the spirit, decor of all the great folks that work at NASA. These people are perfectionists. They care deeply about their jobs, and the bottom line is that the economy down here is one of our long-term concerns as a consequence of the disaster.

KAGAN: As early as Saturday, you were on in on meetings, Sean O'Keefe the head NASA administrator, but also as a Congressmen, other important officials, already starting to talk about what is next for NASA and what happens to the space program. FEENEY: Everybody involved at the top leadership levels, I believe including the president of the United States, takes the position that we're going to identify what the problem is, fix the problem and get back up in space with manned flights. So we're excited about that. We hope we're talking about a matter week and months for this fix, and not years, as was in the case of the Challenger disaster. We're optimistic, but until you complete investigation, you don't know exactly what it will take to fix the problem.

KAGAN: Well, because just about two football fields away from where we're standing, the vehicle assembly building, behind in that huge building is Shuttle Atlantis, which was supposed to launch on March 1st. Clearly, that's not going to happen.

FEENEY: Well, that's going to be delayed. How long it will be delayed, we don't know. Of course, we do have the International Space Station that has to be serviced, and the shuttle fleet is ideal way to do that. So we're optimistic this is going to be a thorough, intense, but rapid investigation. The fix will take place very quickly.

KAGAN: Today's meeting is a meeting to meet with employees. It is not the memorial service. I understand there is plans to have one here separate from what's going to take place in Houston tomorrow.

FEENEY: Tomorrow, we'll have one at Johnson Control in Houston. We expect to have one perhaps Friday, right here at Kennedy Space Center.

KAGAN: Very good. Congressman Tom Feeney. Congressman, thank you for your time, and our condolences to people that work here at Kennedy Space Center, and the people in your district.

FEENEY: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: I appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 3, 2003 - 10:24   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Let's go now to Daryn Kagan, who's standing by at the Kennedy Space Center there.
And, Daryn, as you may have heard moments ago, Rusty Dornin talking about how Houston is big city, but a small town when it comes to the space center there. I've got to think that's the same situation you've got happening down there, and because of that, everyone is somehow, some way connected to tragedy that happened there over the weekend.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, absolutely, Leon, in fact, in more ways than you could even imagine. We called up Congressman Tom Feeney and invited him to be with us this hour, and in fact, he's here with me just now, and talk about -- Congressman, good morning, by the way. Welcome, and thank you for joining us at this very busy time.

Leon was commenting on how this a sense not only at Johnson, but here, that this is one big family. This is literally family since your wife works right here at the center?

REP. TOM FEENEY (R), FLORIDA: Ella's worked down here for 18 years as an engineer for one of the contractors, and people that aren't affiliated with NASA may not understand, this is more than a job; it's a passion for people that work here. It really is one big family, and so obviously, a disaster like this hurts all of us very deeply.

KAGAN: And the people working here not only concerned, of course number one, concerned for the families of the astronauts, but also for the program, and not just what's going to happen to the future of the space program, but also what will happen to the future of their livelihood. You're going to be in on a meeting in the next hour where I imagine some of those issues will be addressed?

FEENEY: At 11:30 this morning, the center director Roy Bridges is going to have an all-hands meeting, about 500 to 600 NASA employees, where he'll probably give them a briefing, but the ultimate purpose here is to really boost the morale, the spirit, decor of all the great folks that work at NASA. These people are perfectionists. They care deeply about their jobs, and the bottom line is that the economy down here is one of our long-term concerns as a consequence of the disaster.

KAGAN: As early as Saturday, you were on in on meetings, Sean O'Keefe the head NASA administrator, but also as a Congressmen, other important officials, already starting to talk about what is next for NASA and what happens to the space program. FEENEY: Everybody involved at the top leadership levels, I believe including the president of the United States, takes the position that we're going to identify what the problem is, fix the problem and get back up in space with manned flights. So we're excited about that. We hope we're talking about a matter week and months for this fix, and not years, as was in the case of the Challenger disaster. We're optimistic, but until you complete investigation, you don't know exactly what it will take to fix the problem.

KAGAN: Well, because just about two football fields away from where we're standing, the vehicle assembly building, behind in that huge building is Shuttle Atlantis, which was supposed to launch on March 1st. Clearly, that's not going to happen.

FEENEY: Well, that's going to be delayed. How long it will be delayed, we don't know. Of course, we do have the International Space Station that has to be serviced, and the shuttle fleet is ideal way to do that. So we're optimistic this is going to be a thorough, intense, but rapid investigation. The fix will take place very quickly.

KAGAN: Today's meeting is a meeting to meet with employees. It is not the memorial service. I understand there is plans to have one here separate from what's going to take place in Houston tomorrow.

FEENEY: Tomorrow, we'll have one at Johnson Control in Houston. We expect to have one perhaps Friday, right here at Kennedy Space Center.

KAGAN: Very good. Congressman Tom Feeney. Congressman, thank you for your time, and our condolences to people that work here at Kennedy Space Center, and the people in your district.

FEENEY: Thank you, Daryn.

KAGAN: I appreciate it.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com