Clouds forced a delay for space shuttle Endeavor's lift off early Saturday morning, but NASA is hoping for a successful launch tomorrow, Feb. 8, at 4:14 a.m. TWU Local 525 members, part of NASA's ground crew, were among thousands of NASA employees prepared for the launch last night. They will be working through the night again this evening into tomorrow morning in hopes of a successful blast off.

Thousands of spectators gathered on and around NASA's grounds to be a part of the first of NASA's last five shuttle launches. Stay tuned to twu.org over the next few days for exclusive footage of Local 525 members at NASA.

The Local is almost as old as the United States space program itself; it signed its charter in 1957. But with Obama's budget announcement made on Feb. 1 proposing to cut the Constellation program (a return to the moon by 2020) and make other drastic changes to the American space program, the Local and others in the space industry worry about the future of their jobs.

This weekends Endeavour launch is the first of five final shuttle missions planned for 2010 before the three-orbiter fleet is retired to make way for future spacecraft. The now jeopardized Constellation program was to follow NASA's out-going shuttle program, but despite the billions of dollars already spent on Constellation, the Obama budget proposes to drop it in favor of a space program that heavily favors commercial development of technology.

If passed by Congress, Obama's proposed budget for NASA will dramatically change the space industry. Instead of choosing destinations in space and then developing the technology to carry out those missions, technology would be developed before destinations are chosen. NASA would need to rely on private companies to develop the technology and spacecraft that will send American astronauts into low earth orbit.

Former NASA administrator Michael Griffin told The Washington Post earlier this week: "It means that essentially the U.S. has decided that they're not going to be a significant player in human space flight for the foreseeable future. The path that they're on with this budget is a path that can't work."

Industry experts and members of Congress have worried that canceling Constellation will put the U.S. behind other nations in space exploration. In addition, the commercial program would create up to 1,700 jobs, but that is hardly a comfort to the 7,000 people in the industry who are expected to lose their jobs when the space shuttle is retired next year.

The space shuttle Endeavour launched at 4:39 a.m. on Feb. 7 from the Kennedy Space Center. The five-man, one-woman crew, commanded by astronaut George Samka, are hauling a brand-new room for the International Space Station, as well as a seven-window observation portal dubbed the Cupola. The mission will last 13 days.

Photo credit: NASA