Live Oak — NASA’s final space shuttle launch brought tears to the eyes of many who watched, with its traditional spectacle, smoke and fire. As the shuttle disappeared into the clouds, so did a way of life for Live Oak native Ken Allen and thousands of others who have devoted their lives to the space shuttle program.

“It’s a sad thing. Yes, I cried the other day. As I watched it go through that thick deck of clouds and disappear, I realized I’d never see it again,” said Allen, a 1979 Suwannee High School graduate. “I will be on the edge of the runway when it lands next week.”

For 30 years, Allen has worked as a satellite and rocket tracker with NASA. He leads a team of technicians contracted by the space program to record launches with giant, state of the art cameras and high-speed video equipment.

Between the first shuttle launch from Cape Canaveral in 1981 and its last a week ago with Space Shuttle Atlantis, Allen’s life has been built on and around the shuttle program. When Atlantis lands next week, it will, for him, symbolize the absolute end of an era.

“I can’t describe the kinds of emotions that will come up that day on the runway,” said Allen. “I have worked every single launch from first to last.”

Rockets and satellites will continue to be launched by NASA. So, for now, Allen will still have a job. However, the blast off last Friday meant the end of a career for many. More than 10,000 employees of the space program, including aerospace engineers, world-renowned scientists and astronauts, will be out of work later this month.

“They’re calling it the ‘Brain Drain,’” he said. “The government is losing a lot of intelligent people.”

These NASA employees are losing their dream jobs, according to Allen. Adding to their plight, jobs in their chosen fields of expertise are scarce. Many have been looking for new jobs for several years since the first word of the shuttle programs demise - but to no avail.

Allen worries that the stability of his own job may not last, with a third of his department scheduled to be laid off at the end of the month.

At 50, Allen said trying to find a job in this economy would be difficult, to say the least.

“The future is yet to be determined,” he said. “It’s scary.”

In an effort to get the ball rolling on bringing back the shuttle program, NASA proposed Tuesday creating a deep space exploration program that would take astronauts further into space than ever before by 2020. If that proposal succeeds, Allen said it’s going to be difficult to rebuild a shuttle program and convince scientists, engineers and others that the program is stable enough to return.

The scrapping of the program is also a major blow to the South Florida economy. A resident of Cocoa Beach, Allen said the loss of the program will be devastating there.

“People come to watch the shuttle. People don’t come to watch the rockets,” he said. “There’s nothing to come see anymore.”

Though Atlantis will be put on permanent display at the Kennedy Space Center, Allen expects it will bring only a trickle of tourists, of which the economy is largely supported by.  

The first successful NASA shuttle launch into space was Columbia in 1981. Two of the five shuttles used by the program were lost in accidents in 1986 - Challenger, and Columbia - 2003, sparking discussion on the reasons for space exploration. With only dim light at the end of a bleak economy, the federal government scrapped the program as a cutback.

But Allen said the country is losing an important asset.

“We’re losing access to space,” he said. “The nation is losing its ability to carry on a tradition that started when Kennedy made his speech to put a man on the moon.”

Now, the Kennedy Space Center and the community that sprung up around it grows quiet.  

“What we’re losing: pride, technology, and jobs,” he said. “I wish I had a crystal ball.”