Posted: Wed, Feb 6, 2002, 8:07 AM ET (1307 GMT)
NASA announced Tuesday that future refits of the space shuttle fleet will take place at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and not in California. Past modifications of shuttles have been performed at a Palmdale, California facility where the shuttles were originally assembled. However, the space agency determined that KSC has the resources to perform the refits, and the agency cannot afford to keep two similar facilities open. Moving all refit work to KSC should save NASA about $30 million per overhaul. The fate of the 300 people who work at the Palmdale site is uncertain, according to the L.A. Times. About 235 workers will be added to KSC to handle the additional modification work.

Related Links:

•  NASA press release
•  L.A. Times article
•  Houston Chronicle article
•  SPACE.com article
•  Orlando Sentinel article