CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — On Tuesday, Senator Rick Scott made a pitch to relocate NASA Headquarters from D.C. to Florida’s Space Coast.
He sent this letter, signed by the entire Florida Delegation, to the Trump Administration asking the President
to consider the move. But this afternoon, NASA Watch Founder Keith Cowing told me it’s unlikely. He told us,
“I’ve read the letter, and everybody signed it. Who’s a Republican from Florida. They want to move with the Florida because a lot of space people work there. That are isolated from the political environment in DC. Okay, well, you have a big political environment down there. So, I own the lobbyists. Well, they’ll just set up new offices. It’ll take years.” In his letter, said the lease on Headquarters is expiring, and there’s a 500-million plan for a new facility in the National Capitol Region.
Scott says Space Florida has build to suit options. He called the state the undisputed leader in space operations and talked about leveraging a world-class workforce.
Dr. Don Platt, an Associate Professor of Space Systems at Florida Tech said, “We do have to remember that the people that work in NASA headquarters are people that interface with Capitol Hill. They interface with budgets, national space policy. They do not build rocket engines. They do not program software. Not engineers, they’re more likely to be someone with a business background or a master’s in management or finance or any of those areas.” Platt also said that if the Trump administration really was contemplating an HQ move for NASA, several states would be vying for that prize.
Scott’s letter follows the introduction of the CAPE Canaveral Act earlier this year. Scott co-sponsored the bill, which calls for the relocation of NASA headquarters from D.C. to Brevard County.
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