State Collaboration Hopes to Keep Aerospace Jobs in Texas

A new partnership will help to keep aerospace talent and expertise in Texas.

Governor Rick Perry today touted the new public-private partnership involving Houston’s NASA Johnson Space Center and a private company.

The state is awarding $500,000 to BayTech, a nonprofit advanced technology business consortium, to fund the Texas Innovation Program, designed to link aerospace workers with private sector partners.

An additional $250,000 is being awarded to the Houston Technology Center to create a Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization at the Johnson Space Center, to help provide resources to scientific businesses.

Perry said “Over the years, JSC and its private partners have developed a coveted pool of some of the most creative minds in engineering and space exploration in the world…we want to keep them here, and the opportunities created by this partnership will help link these men and women with innovative companies that can bring more technologies to market.”

A press release from Perry’s office states that these jobs might otherwise be lost as a result of the ending of NASA’s Constellation program.