The NASA Michoud Assembly Facility is celebrating its 65th anniversary, the future of the local space industry appears to be bright.
Michoud director Hansel Gill says workers at the plant helped put man on the moon in 1969 and put the Space Shuttle program in flight. He told WWL's Newell Normand that the facility and its people will help send Americans back to the lunar surface in the next few years.
"From the Apollo program, 136 external tanks for the (space) shuttle program, and, of course, the work that we're doing for the Artemis program, it's really exciting to be part of the work," Gill said. "We learned from the things that we've done in the past, and where we can, we apply some of that technology."
According GNO, Inc. President/CEO Michael Hecht, Space X's expansion into South Louisiana will provide a boost both to NASA's space exploration work and the local economy.
"I can't say names, but other major companies--other major space companies--are now knocking on the door to see if they can come to Louisiana," Hecht said. "There's a path dependency. There's a herd mentality. There's a momentum when there has been an initial validation that has been successful."
SpaceX has listed its first job posting for the Pecan Island space port. The company's jobs site shows it is hiring an external affairs manager, but the link to that posting redirects the user to another jobs page.
