MIAMI (Reuters) December 8, 2009 - At El Leoncita Cuban & Mexican Restaurant near the Kennedy Space Center on Florida's "space" coast, a bar sign says it all: "No happy hour on launch days."
Business from tourists is so strong that when a U.S. space shuttle blasts off a drinks promotion is never needed. Throngs waiting for their margaritas snake out into the Titusville eatery's parking lot, according to owner Miguel Sanchez.
"It's the busiest day of the year -- crowded, crowded," Sanchez said.
But like other local business operators, as well as policymakers, Sanchez worries sales will drop and jobs will be lost as Florida's signature, half-century-old space economy risks being eclipsed by the end of the space shuttle program.
The federal government's space shuttle program, which is so much part of state lore that Floridians voted to depict the winged space vehicle on a 2004 commemorative quarter coin, now has just a few missions left before winding down in 2010 after 29 years of flights.
And there is no clear replacement for what is an important driver of the fourth most-populous U.S. state's economy, as the Obama administration is debating a new U.S. manned-space program that would at best be many years away from new launches.
Florida's economy has been especially hard hit by recession. U.S. state and local governments are sapped by budget deficits, while fledgling private-sector efforts to carry Americans into space for fat fees appear to be nowhere near getting traction.
